Abstract:

Introduction; Viral suppression among people living with HIV is the main goal of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Despite the treatment, more than four million people patients globally had virological failure in 2017(1). The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of virological failure and associated factors among patient on first line antiretroviral therapy at Bugando Medical Center.

Background; Despite effective therapies, virological failure (VF) is inevitable in some HIVinfected patients on treatment. In SSA, rates of ART failure vary between 11.1% and 24% in the first 12 months after ART initiation and ∼71%–90% of patients with ART failure have evidence of resistance(2). Common causes of treatment failure in these settings include poor adherence to medication, drug toxicities and use of antiretroviral with lower genetic barriers.

Methodology; A cross sectional study will be conducted at Bugando Medical Center among patients on first line antiretroviral therapy who are 18 years and above. Non-probability sampling will be used to select participants. Data will be collected using semi-structured questionnaires and will be analyzed using SPSS software version 20.

Results; Reduced prevalence of virological failure of new regimens of first line ART. A single important and independent factor which is poor adherence shown to result in virological failure of ART.

Conclusion; This study provided baseline information on prevalence of virological failure among HIV patients on first-line ART and their socio-demographic and clinical characteristics hence, the evidence to show the effectiveness of new ART regimen on viral load suppression, which will help for further researches on this field.