TY - JOUR AU - Ayesiga, Innocent AU - Nabukenya, Daphine AU - Akatusasira , Ritah AU - Ahimbisibwe, Alex AU - Najjiwa, Babirye PY - 2022/06/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Herbal Medicine Usage among Patients Living with HIV on Antiretroviral Therapy. A Cross-Sectional Study. JF - Student's Journal of Health Research Africa JA - SJHR-Africa VL - 3 IS - 6 SE - DO - 10.51168/sjhrafrica.v3i6.202 UR - https://sjhresearchafrica.org/index.php/public-html/article/view/202 SP - 7 AB - <p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Objectives: </span></strong></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">We assessed the prevalence and factors associated with herbal medicine use among HIV/AIDs patients enrolled on ART in a rural health care facility in Western Uganda.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Methods:</span></strong></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">198 consecutively sampled adult (≥ 18 years) HIV/AIDs patients enrolled on ART in a health facility in Western Uganda were considered. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on herbal medicine use. Data were entered in an Excel spreadsheet and transferred to SPSS <em>ver </em>20.0 for analysis. Continuous variables were analyzed using means and standard deviation. Categorical data were analyzed using chi-square analysis at a 95% level of significance.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Results: </span></strong></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">The mean duration of ART use was 7.7 ± 5.2 years. Over half, 57.6% (114/198) of the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">respondents reported using herbal medicines. The sex of the participants was less likely to result </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">in herbal medicine usage (COR=0.978, 95% CI 0.631-1.517). Furthermore, age was less likely to </span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">influence herbal medicine usage (COR=0.640, 95% CI 0.336-1.219). The majority, 62.6% (124/198) of the participants reported having ever missed taking their ART medication. Most of the participants, 85.9% (170/198) had HIV viral load below 1000copies/ml.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Conclusion: </span></strong></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">There is a high level of usage of herbal medicine among HIV/AIDs patients enrolled in care in health facilities in Western Uganda.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><strong><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Recommendation:</span></strong></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;">Further studies should be conducted to determine the biochemical concentrations and interactions between herbal medicine and ART among people living with HIV.</span></p><p style="margin: 0cm; margin-bottom: .0001pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p> ER -