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Clinical and Immunological Response of HIV/AIDS Patients Receiving Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) at Nyangana Mission Hospital in Namibia

D. M. Kangudie, L. Haoses- Gorases

Abstract


There is strong evidence to show that antiretroviral therapy (ART) improves the survival and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Namibia, one of the countries with high rate of HIV/AIDS, has embarked on a large scale public sector roll out of ART. The Catholic Health Services is implementing an HIV/AIDS treatment program in Nyangana rural district. The objectives of the study are to describe baseline clinical profile and subsequent clinical response of HIV/AIDS patients receiving ART and to determine baseline immunological profile. Standardised patient files and registers were used to abstract data as per selected variables into an Excel database. Epi Info and SPSS were used to analyse data. ART is currently reaching 46% of PLWHA in need of it in Nyangana District. At baseline, the mean age is 36 years, mean weight is 48 kg and median CD4 cell count was 131 cells or µL (IDR: 75-216). Females represents 69% of patients, and are more likely to have higher CD4 count at baseline (p less than 0.0001). Also, they are more likely to survive compared to males (OR: 2.3). The mean duration on ART was 20.8 and 5.1 months respectively, for those still alive and those who died. A mortality rate of 23.5% occurred mainly in the first 3 months of initiation (60%) with TB (37.9%) and gastroenteritis (18.2%) as leading causes of death. These findings supports the facts, that high quality ART Services can be implemented in a rural setting in Namibia.

Keywords


HIV/AIDS, HAART, Clinical, Immunological, Adherence Response/outcome, Patient cohort, Weight gain, CD4 cell Count trend

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