Enhancing Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among the Youth at Mbagathi District Hospital

Abstract

Mbagathi District Hospital is one of three hospitals in Nairobi County. It provides several preventive and curative services. The comprehensive care centre provides antiretroviral therapy to several clients who include approximately three hundred youth. Youth is a challenging period whereby high-risk sexual behaviour is common and this can lead to lack of engagement with healthcare services leading to poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy. The issue of non-adherence among the youth was raised during the organizational capacity assessment and this was evident by the high viral load results among the youth. The objective of the project was to improve adherence to HIV treatment among youth at the hospital. This was imperative because viral suppression is key in the reduction of new HIV infections and it also contributes to the achievement of the second and third UNAIDS targets. The project adopted HIV services that were youth friendly in a bid to increase adherence. Similarly, selected youth undertook capacity building in peer counseling/mentorship. Treatment literacy was employed in the form of a standard training manual which was converted into an App. As expected, the youth were more open to discuss their health issues with their peers and the adoption of the best practices was more acceptable to the youth. Clinicians were encouraged to take up UoN online short courses and embrace CMEs to increase their knowledge on HIV care and service delivery. The project employed verbal and written communication strategies. Baseline and summative viral load statistics were used to monitor the successful implementation of the project. Progress reports were generated and shared with all stakeholders.