THE SELECTED FACTORS RELATED TO THE ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY ADHERENE AMONG THE PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV IN KATMANDU, NEPAL

Nepal has a concentrated epidemic of HIV, and 29,944 people were estimated to be living with HIV in 2018. This descriptive study assesses the relationship between antiretroviral therapy adherence and the selected factors among the people living with HIV using Visual Analogue Scale. Data were collected using structure questionnaires from 183 people living with HIV recruited by systematic random sampling. Approximately 27% of the respondents perceived they had received low social support. Similarly, 55.7% of the respondents perceived their adherence to be less than 95% (suboptimal adherence), whereas 44.3% of the respondents perceived their adherence to be more than 95% (optimal adherence). Age, income, alcohol use, drug use, ART pills per day, taking pills for other diseases and frequency of taking pills were found to be significantly associated with ART adherence. The antiretroviral therapy program in Nepal should be focused on the use of drug regimen with fewer side effects along with fixed-dose combination.