1Public Health Nursing Officer PGIMER, Chandigarh
2Tutor NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh
3Tutor PGIMER, Chandigarh
4Principal NINE, PGIMER, Chandigarh
5Deputy Prog. Director ART Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh
AIDS has been known as the fourth main cause ofdeath around the world. India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world. In 2017, HIV prevalence among adults (aged 15–49) was an estimated 0.2% and they frequently suffer from lack of appetite, tiredness and pain. So there are many challenges faced by people living with HIV/AIDS which needs to be overcome to improve the life expectancy and quality of life.
The present study was undertaken with aim to assess practices of prevention and management ofproblems faced by People Living with HIV (PLHIV) visiting at Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh.
A qualitative research approach was used for descriptive exploratory design in present study. The total enumeration sampling technique was used to collect data from 100 subjects selected from total population at ART Centre, PGIMER and Chandigarh. The data was collected through structured interview method.
problems were fear of disclosure of HIV status (74%), fear of discrimination (16%) and fear of loss of job due to HIV status (16%). Majority of these (95.6%) resorted to hiding their HIV status to manage these fears. More than half (56%) of subjects faced financial problems. Most The results of present study revealed that most commonly reported social commonly reported psychological problems included feeling of helplessness (50%), anxiety about health (50%) and future (48%). Practices of prevention in terms of ART adherence were higher among female subjects (93%) than the males (91.2%). Only 16.7% female subjects had exclusively breast fed their newborn.
The study concluded that the health education about management of common side effects of ART therapy will help to improve quality of life.
HIV Prevention, AIDS Management, Antiretroviral Therapy, NACO, PLHIV
