Barriers to antiretroviral medication adherence in people living with HIV (PLHIV) at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the HIV crisis in the Philippines worsened and triggered a chain reaction that disrupted the provision and utilization of HIV services. This study aims to fill in the gap in knowledge by exploring the possible association between sociodemographic characteris...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Tropical medicine and infectious disease Vol. 8; no. 10; pp. 1 - 16
Main Authors:	Joves, Philip John M., Matulac, Melgar O., Pagcatipunan, Rodolfo S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Basel, Switzerland MDPI 01-10-2023 MDPI AG
Subjects:	AIDS AIDS (Disease) Analysis antiretroviral therapy Coronaviruses COVID-19 COVID-19 (Disease) Disease prevention Disease transmission Drug therapy Drugs Efavirenz Epidemics Gender identity Highly active antiretroviral therapy HIV HIV (Viruses) HIV infections HIV patients Human immunodeficiency virus Indonesia Medical personnel and patient medication adherence Pandemics Patient compliance people living with HIV Philippines Planning Postal & delivery services Prevention Psychological aspects Public transportation Questionnaires Sociodemographics Software Transgender persons Transmission Treatment Philippines Indonesia Luzon
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Summary:	Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the HIV crisis in the Philippines worsened and triggered a chain reaction that disrupted the provision and utilization of HIV services. This study aims to fill in the gap in knowledge by exploring the possible association between sociodemographic characteristics and the barriers to ART adherence for PLHIV in the Philippines at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed by using a survey question- naire, which was distributed via online social media (Twitter). Data were analyzed using the Stata software. Results: There is a significant association between the following treatment barriers and sociodemographic characteristics: the location of treatment hubs and respondents who finished col- lege/graduate studies; checkpoints and crossing borders; and (1) respondents from Northern Luzon Region, (2) unemployed respondents and financial assistance-1. respondents 18 to 25 years old; 2. unemployed respondents-(3) respondents who finished elementary/high school and psychosocial support-(1) respondents from the NCR; (2) respondents 26 to 30 years old, stocks of ARVs and other medicines, and employed respondents. Conclusions: The results suggest a necessity for innova- tive approaches to make HIV care services, particularly ART, more accessible to PLHIV during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future large-scale studies exploring the association between sociodemographic characteristics and barriers to medication adherence of PLHIV during the COVID-19 pandemic are recommended.
Bibliography:	Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, Vol. 8, No. 10, Oct 2023, 1-16 Informit, Melbourne (Vic) ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2414-6366 2414-6366
DOI:	10.3390/tropicalmed8100461