An Investigation into the Management of Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment : A Case Study of Murchison District Hospital

Abstract

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome constitute one of the major diseases that affect society since the first known cases in the early 1980’s. Recent statistics have indicated that South Africa has the largest and highest profile HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world with an estimated 5.7 million of its 48.3 million citizens being infected with HIV. As antiretroviral medicines become increasingly available and affordable for the treatment of eligible patients, more attention is rightly being focused on issues related to the rational use of these medicines, with one of them being adherence. One of the major challenges surrounding the management of ART programmes is the adherence of patients to their ART as non adherence of patients to their ART not only has a host of negative consequences for the patient but also a number of significant effects on the organisation and the management thereof.