Interventions to promote adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) among adult patients at an HIV/AIDS program in Uganda

Abstract

Background To document successful interventions for promoting Adherence to ART among adult patients at Mulago hospital AIDS (ISS) clinic. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was performed on data of 2,521 adult patients on ART for > 1 at Mulago hospital AIDS (ISS) clinic between August 2005 and June 2009. The average adherence score for each patient was used for analysis. Adherence to ART was defined as good adherence for patients taking > 95% of the prescribed ART doses and poor for patients taking < 95% of the prescribed ART doses. Results Of the 2,521 patients active on ART, 65% (1,638) were female. Median age was 34 years (IQR: 29-40). Median CD4+ cell count at ART initiation and Body Mass Index (BMI) were 134 cells/mm 3 (IQR: 56-198) and 21.2 kg/ m 2 (IQR 19.3-23.5) respectively. Good adherence of > 95% was observed in 2,406 (95.4%) of the patients Discussion High rates of adherence to ART can be achieved in a setting with multiple interventions for adherence promotion.