Factors Associated With Treatment Success Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infected Adolescents At The Coastal General Hospital, Mombasa County

Purpose: Into the third decade of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there are 34 million people living with HIV in the world, of whom five million are adolescents. AIDS is now the leading cause of death among young people in Africa and the second leading cause of death among young people worldwide. To determine factors associated with treatment success among HIV infected adolescents in the Coastal General Hospital. Methods: This study was conducted at Coast General Hospital located in Mvita sub-County, Mombasa. An am bidirectional cohort study design was adopted. The study used 165 adolescents between 10-19 years on ARVs who were selected using systematic random sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedule, previous records and laboratory investigations. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. A comprehensive summary of the associated factors to development of treatment success among HIV adolescents on ARVs was presented. Results: The study findings established that on Morisky 4 Scale, adherence level up to 7 out 10 adolescents can be characterized as good while 3 out of 10 have adherence levels characterized as inadequate or poor. On a Morisky 8 Scale, adherence levels of up to 6 out of 10 adolescents is characterized as good while the inadequate and poor adherence levels could be as high as 9 in every 10 adolescents. Up to 7 in every 10 adolescents experience treatment success while up to around 4 in every 10 adolescents experience treatment failure. Determinants of poor adherence levels and treatment failure include having lived with HIV for a period more than a year , adherence pattern immediately after HIV status awareness, ARV uptake of more than 5 years and between 3 and 4 years respectively as well as adherence level on Morisky 4 scale. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The primary target and focus towards curbing non adherence among adolescent should be patients who have lived with HIV and been taking ARVs for more than 1 year. Interventions to enhance treatment success should focus on female gender adolescents, those who have lived with HIV for a period greater than 1 year, those who have been taking ARVs for more than 5 years and those with poor adherence level on Morisky 4 Scale.