Profile of sociodemographics, sources of infection, antiretrovirals and CD4 counts on HIV/AIDS outpatients in Turen Primary Health Centre, Indonesia.

Abstract

Background The profile of patients with HIV/AIDS is required to develop appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs in Indonesia. Turen is one of the four sub-districts with the highest number of patients with HIV/AIDS in Malang District, Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to determine the sociodemographic profile, sources of infection, use of antiretrovirals and CD4 counts on HIV/AIDS outpatients in Turen Primary Health Centre (PHC). Methods The sociodemographic data, antiretroviral use, and CD4 counts were obtained from medical records on HIV/AIDS outpatients in Turen PHC. A qualitative approach using in-depth interviews was used to explore the source of infection. Descriptive analysis was used to summarise the quantitative data, while thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data derived from interviews. Results A total of 45 HIV/AIDS outpatient medical records were reviewed. Of those, the majority were females (57.8%), ages 26-35 years (51.1%), married (55.6%) and having income less than 2 million rupiah (73.3%). All of them used a combination of antiretroviral therapy from two classes of antiretrovirals, i.e. nucleotide analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor and non-nucleotide analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor; the majority were treated with fixed-dose combination of tenofovir-lamifudin-efavirenz. The CD4 counts data were obtained from 31 patients with an average number of 282 cells/mm3. The qualitative data from interviews with 15 patients revealed that the source of infection was from husband, unsafe/unprotected sex and blood donor. Conclusions The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among young married women and poor control of the disease in Indonesia warrants further considerations. The government should work together with all related stakeholders in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS, particularly among women, as well as improving treatment and support for people living with HIV/AIDS.