Antiretroviral Therapy Contribution to Patients Health in New Juaben Municipality
Frederick Owusu
Pope John Senior High School and Minor Seminary, P.O.Box 370, Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana
Kwame Asare Gyasi-Agyei *
Department of Applied Mathematics, Koforidua Polytechnic, P.O.Box 981, Koforidua, Ghana
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Our study focused on identifying factors underlining the deteriorating health condition of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the New Juaben Municipality. After a review of the relevant literature, the following hypotheses were developed: the attitude of PLWHA to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is likely to affect their health condition; the fact of administering ART at designated clinics affects the attitude of PLWHA to ART and HIV/AIDS related stigma impacts negatively on the health condition of PLWHA. The objective of our paper was to look at the health status of PLWHA and the administration of ART in the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana. From the year 2000, PLWHA in the Eastern Region had been placed on ART. With Antiretroviral treatment, the situation in the New Juaben Municipality had not shown much improvement. One hundred and twenty (120) respondents were sampled from the New Juaben Municipality. Quantitative data was collected with mostly close ended questionnaire, analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Chi Square hypothesis was conducted for each of the hypotheses. The results of our study rejected the null hypotheses successfully. Therefore, a generalization could be made, implying that the findings about the statistics of the sample could be applied to the parameter of the population.
Keywords: Antiretroviral drugs, municipality, hypothesis, treatment, respondents, stigma, discrimination