Strengthening adherence to Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) monitoring and support: operation research to identify barriers and facilitators in Nepal (BMC Health Services Research)

Background: Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) is the cornerstone for comprehensive health sector response to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment, care and support. Adherence of at least 95% is needed to keep HIV under control, as per World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. This study was aimed at identifying the overall adherence level of, and barriers and facilitators to adherence for patients taking ART in different clinics in all five development regions of Nepal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among ART clients receiving free ART from Government of Nepal ART clinics. A total of 435 clients taking ART from 12 ART clinics in different regions of Nepal, aged 15 years and above were interviewed on one-and-one basis using questionnaires developed in reference to Adult AIDS Clinical Trial Group (AACTG) toolkit among them data from 404 were analyzed after cleaning. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software where the P value of