ART adherence-A significant determinant of survival for people living with HIV/AIDS

Adherence to ART is the prime factor in making the virological success of initiation of a particular ARV regimen and a significant determinant of survival for PLWHAs. Adherence of more than 95% are essential for optimal viral suppression but in our centre of study the average ART adhesion is near about 94–95%., so in the patients with non adherence or suboptimal adherence, viral load increases very rapidly and with the increased viral load in the patients of ARVs, more mutations develop creating to resistance of ARVs which are generally less effective causing increased multiplication of viruses and fall in CD4 count in the blood, rapid progression of opportunistic infections and subsequently clinical illness occurs. A Multidisciplinary team headed by Senior Medical Officer, Medical Officer, Staff Nurse, Community Care Organizer, Counselor, Pharmacist, Lab Technician and a Data Manager is formed to evaluate and support patient adherence. Other assessment tools like Patients self reports, pill counts, pharmacy records, prescription refill monitoring are applied for evaluation of drug adherence. For improving the ART adherence, patients are educated to take the drugs exactly as prescribed by Medical Officer and to consume it in right dose on every day. If the patient missed the dose, he is instructed to notify the miss doses in the clinic on every visit. During the consumption of ARV drugs if side effects appear, the patient is instructed to notify it in the clinic and proper treatment processes are applied to reduce these adverse effects and good adherence manner is reinforced so that adherence is improved.