Profile and predictors of outpatient clinic attendance among HIV patients initiating ART in Malaysia

What is it about?

This paper explores the factors that determine outpatient clinic attendance among a cohort of HIV-positive patients who initiated ART in a referral hospital in Selangor, Malaysia. We examined socio-demographic (age, gender, ethnicity, education level, residential location) , economic (monthly income, employment status), psychological (availability and satisfaction with social support), and patient-related factors (sexual orientation, recreational/illicit drug use) that could explain outpatient clinic attendance behavior of a cohort of patients within the first 6 months of initiating ART.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

At the level of individual patient care, this information becomes very valuable to the pre-treatment, collaborative adherence strategy planning between the patient and provider, if successful treatment outcomes are to be achieved. At program level, our finding underscores the importance of stronger inter-sectoral collaboration towards community system strengthening in the areas of psychosocial and economic empowerment to the success of health programs.

Perspectives