摘要：Background: Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has substantially improved the survival of people living with HIV-AIDS (PLHAs).The individual and public health responsiveness to ART is,in turn,determined by ART-related knowledge of PLHAs.Objective: To study the knowledge of HIV positive individuals regarding ART and also to study its association with education and duration of HIV positivity.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary level hospital.The study participants were 102 PLHAs who were not yet started on ART and data were collected using a face-to-face interview.Results: The mean age was 35.5 years and 58.8% were educated to 10th standard.About 92.2% were married,and more than 70% belonged to rural areas.Nearly 11.8% felt that there is no treatment available.Surprisingly,60.8% of the participants had incorrect knowledge about the correct time of initiating ART while 60 (58.8%) participants were aware that ART needs to be taken lifelong.26.5% said that antiretroviral drugs were associated with side effects.As per predetermined knowledge scores,79.4% had satisfactory knowledge regarding the treatment.A statistically significant (P = 0.03) relationship was observed between the knowledge scores regarding ART among the study participants and educational status while it was not statistically significant (P = 0.56) as regards duration of HIV positivity.Conclusion: There still exists a considerable gap in knowledge regarding treatment options for HIV/AIDS among the PLHA of this region.Hence,there is a need to increase the awareness regarding the same and implement the same into practice.Periodic counseling is necessary to increase awareness and to clear misconceptions about ART among PLHA.
关键词：Anti-retroviral treatment;knowledge;people living with HIV/AIDS
