Prevalence and factors associated with HIV treatment non-adherence among people living with HIV in three regions of Cameroon: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

High proportion of participants are ART non-adherent, and the factors significantly associated with ART non-adherence include age, education and alcohol consumption. However, some reasons for missing ART are masked in participants' limited knowledge in taking ART, disbelief in ART benefits, feelings that ART gives unwanted HIV status reminder and experiencing discrimination when seeking ART services. These underscores need to improve staff (health personnel) attitudes, staff-patient-communication, and proper ART prior initiation counselling of patients. Future studies need to focus on assessing long-term ART non-adherence trends and predictors using larger samples in many treatment centres and regions.