Understanding reasons for discontinued antiretroviral treatment among clients in test and treat: a qualitative study in Swaziland

Introduction: Retention on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is critical for the successful adoption of the test and treat policy by sub-Saharan African countries, and for realizing the United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS target of 90-90-90. This qualitative study explores HIV positive clients' reasons for discontinuing ART under the MaxART test and treat implementation study in Swaziland.

Methods: Clients identified as lost to follow-up (LTFU) in the programme database, who had initiated ART under the intervention arm of the MaxART study, were purposively selected from two facilities. LTFU was defined as stopping ART refill for three months or longer from the date of last appointment, and not being classified as transferred out or deceased. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with nine clients and one treatment supporter between July and August 2017. All interviews were conducted in the local language, audio-recorded, summarized or transcribed and translated to English for thematic analysis.

Results: Respondents described mobility as the first step in a chain of events that affected retention in care. It was entwined with precarious employment, care delivery, interactions with health workers, lack of social support, anticipated stigma and ART-related side-effects, including the exacerbation of hunger. The chains of events involved several intersecting reasons that occurred one after the other as a series of contiguous and linked events that led to clients' eventual discontinuation of ART. The individual accounts of step-by-step decision-making revealed the influence of multi-layered contexts and the importance of critical life-events.

Conclusions: Clients' reasons for abandoning ART are a complex, inextricably interwoven chain of events rather than a single occurrence. Mobility is often the first step in the process and commonly results from precarious economic and social circumstances. Currently the health system poorly caters to the reality of people's mobile lives. Interventions should seek to increase healthcare workers' understanding of the chain of events leading up to discontinuation on ART and the social dilemmas that clients face.