Adherence To Antt Retrovlral Therapy Protocol Among Teachers In Homa Bay District Of Homa Bay County Nyanza Province - Kenya

ABSTRACT

Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is a lifesaving treatment for HIV positive people. Adherence to

treatment protocol is extremely important to ensuring that drug efficacy does not fail with time.

Research findings by other researchers in developed countries indicate that adherence to ART

treatment protocol is a problem.. It implies that in developing countries like Kenya which have poor

health infrastructure the problem is much bigger. The research was conducted in Homa-Bay District

which is a typical rural district in Kenya where poverty is rampant among the rural population, the

standard of education is not only low but 3}~ in the decline. The district ~l!'

infrastructure. This research investigated adherence to ART among teachers in Homa-Bay who form

the bulk of the Government civil servants. Homa-Bay District is hard hit with HIV/ AIDS with

prevalence rate of 28% this is threatening to underminethe standard of education in the district.

Adherence to ART protocol among teachers on ART, will serve as a strong indicator of the extent of

this problem on the general population. Research method-which was used was observational study,

mainly by using cross sectional survey. Snow ball sampling was used, Methods of data collection

were by using structured questionnaire, analyzed by statistical package fur social sciences (SPSS)

Computer Software. The data collected was tested using a Chi square to test the hypothesis with

confidence limit of p= 0.05. A sample size of 300 teachers was used. The findings of this research

revealed that socio demographic factors such as age. marital status and drug and substance abuse do

influence adherence to ART protocol only 10.8]&/0 of the sampled 300 teachers adhered to ART

protocol These fmdings were significant. The outcome of this research will be used by stake holders

In the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health to educate people on ARV adherence to

treatment protocol.