Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence to: Valerie Ehlers Email: ehlersjh mweb. How to cite this article: Ehlers, V. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Background: As antiretroviral therapy ART is becoming increasingly available to people in developing countries, ART adherence challenges assume ever greater significance. Often underlying treatment failure is the fact that suboptimal adherence to ART is the strongest predictor of failure to achieve viral suppression below the level of detection.
Objectives: The study's main objective was to identify factors affecting ART adherence levels, as well as the impact on immunologic and virologic responses in adult patients in one rural district in Botswana. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey, was used. Data were analysed, then presented in charts, graphs and frequency tables.
Results: The prevalence of non-adherence to ART was Motivators of good adherence included disclosure of HIV-positive status to more than one person, frequent adherence counselling, self-efficacy for adherence to ART, positive interactions between patients and healthcare providers; and using adherence partners.
Barriers to adherence were forgetfulness, transportation costs to and from the clinic, time away from work and side-effects. There was a strong positive correlation between adherence, CD4 counts and viral load.
