Family support is important for adherence to antiretroviral therapy among HIV positive mothers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Author Info

Sahra Abdulle Patricia Munseri Rikard Sultan Rune Andersson

Corresponding Author

Rune Andersson
Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Sweden

A B S T R A C T

Adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART) is of utmost importance to reduce the risk of vertical transmission of HIV. We enrolled 106 patients from two Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) clinics in Dar es Salaam in September- November 2016. Study participants were given structured standardized questionnaires regarding their self-estimated adherence and barriers and enablers to adherence. Good adherence was defined as taking ≥95% of the pills as prescribed. About 70% of the participants achieved this level of adherence. The odds ratios for poor adherence among women with medium and poor family support were 5.69 (95% CI: 1.36-23-75) and 6.86 (95% CI: 1.89-24.96) respectively compared to good support. A large portion of the women failed to reach the high set limit for adherence. Increased spousal involvement and support could help many women to achieve good adherence.

Article Info

Article Type

Research Article

Publication history

Received: Sat 02, Feb 2019
Accepted: Fri 15, Feb 2019
Published: Mon 18, Mar 2019

Copyright

© 2023 Rune Andersson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.CMR.2018.01.006