The level and potential determinants of the adherence to the antiretroviral therapy among patients on HIV treatment in gemena referral hospital, South Ubangi, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2018

Introduction: Suboptimal adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a major hinderance to achieving the 90 90 90 goals in limited resources settings. South Ubangi province in DR Congo faces countless challenges providing universal HIV care. However, the level of ART adherence and associated factors among people on HIV treatment in this province remains unknown. Using a quantitative method approach, this study aimed to know the extend of adherence and to identify the determinants of optimal and suboptimal adherence among study participants. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to survey patients on ART in Gemena Referral Hospital. Results: After a simple randomly sampling from a sampling frame of 503 patients on treatment and who met the inclusion criteria of been using HIV treatment for at least one year, 438 were selected taking the even numbers in three rounds, but only 398 patients consented to participate to the study. Logistic regression was run to explore determinants of the adherence. The participants’ mean age was 42 years old (range: 8-62 years old). 280 participants were Female (=70.4%) and 118 were male (29.6%) with a sex ratio Female-male of 2.4/1. Most of the participants were married 185(46.5%), 45 were divorced (=1.3%), 136 widow/widowers (34.2% made up of 116 widowers=29% and 20 widows=4.2%) and only 32 were unmarried (8%). Among the married, 117 had only one partner (29% of overall), 42 had more than one partner (11%) and 26 were in a mere cohabitation (6.5%). ART adherence was 77% in the study population, while it should reach the optimal level of 95%. Adherence was positively associated with age, but suboptimal adherence was significantly associated with forget to take the drugs, distance, the degree of contentment to the family support, and moving out of home. Adherence was likely associated with age, in fact, old participants(44-60 age group) had 8.3 times an increased probability of being adherent( 2.30-8.84, 95% CI, p-value=0.001) compared to 8-25 age group. Additionally, taking his pills on daily basis had 1.68 times an increased probability of optimal adherence (1.39-1.98, 95% CI, p-value<0.001), compared to those patients who sometimes forget to take their pills. Distance < or = 5 km also had 2.47 an increased probability of being adherent (2.06-2.87, p-value<0.001) compared to people who live beyond 5 km from the health facility. Participants who stated they had a high degree of contentment to family support presented 1.93 times an increased probability of being adherent (1.93-1.46, 95% CI, p-value=0.001) compared with those with low degree of contentment to the family support. Participants who were resident had 1.55 times an increased significant probability to be adherent (1.28-1.82, 95% CI, p-value<0.001), compared to those who temporarily/definitely moved out their home for any reason. Gender, marital status, and monthly income did not have a significant association with adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people surveyed in the study. Conclusion: Suboptimal adherence is still a serious issue among ARVs users in resource limited settings. Further strategies to boost adherence to the optimal level and beyond would imply to increase personal capacities to adhere to therapy instructions, lessen stigma and discrimination barriers by the proxy and within patients’ families and foster the implication of the family members and the community in therapy, promote drugs provisions at home and differentiated health care management, etc.