Abstract:

Background: Improving child survival for HIV-infected children is a critical health agenda. Viral load suppression among HIV-positive children receiving ART is significantly low. In SSA and Tanzania, in particular, data on optimal viral load suppression (OVLS) <50copies/ml among HIV-positive adolescents on Dolutegravir (1st line ART) are limited. This study investigated the proportion and factors associated with OVLS among adolescents receiving 1st line ART, attending Baylor clinic in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to July 2024, utilized questionnaire survey and secondary data from the Baylor database. Included all adolescents aged 10 to 17 years LHIV on 1st line ART for not <6 months. A consecutive sampling was performed to a minimum sample size of 385. Data was entered into the Microsoft Excel data sheet and analyzed using STATA version 15. Study was conducted after the approval by ethical committee.

Results: Of 385 participants enrolled, 74.8% (288/385) had attained OVLS. The majority of the participants were aged 14-17 years (54.29%) with a mean age of 13.89 SD ± 2.10 years. Each additional year on ART increased the Odds of OVLS by 1.23 times (aOR =1.23, 95% CI: 1.09-1.38, p-value = 0.001). Good nutritional status had 6 times higher Odds of OVLS (aOR = 6.04, 95%CI: 2.64-13.79, p-value < 0.001). The high adherence to ART had 21.7 times higher Odds of OVLS (aOR = 21.71, 95%CI: 9.94- 47.42, p-value< 0.001).

Conclusion: Based on the results of our study, it is evident that adolescents aged 10-17 years attending Baylor clinic on 1st line ART have shown promising progress in achieving OVLS. And factors associated with OS being ART duration, nutritional status and adherence to ART.

Keywords: Optimal HIV viral load suppression, adolescent’s HIV viral load suppression, Dolutegravir.