• When well managed, such groups have previously been associated with better ARV adherence.
• A 2012 study led by Loice Achieng at Kijabe Hospital, showed support groups were associated with better long term treatment success and with better adherence.
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The impact of some HIV support groups is being questioned following evidence they are not helping people adhere to ARVs and achieve viral suppression.
People living with HIV are often encouraged to join the groups to help them cope with the health, economic and social challenges they face.
The World Health Organization also recognises psychosocial support from such groups as a useful strategy for optimising HIV care.
However, a six-year study in 12 HIV clinics in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria reports that people who do not attend such groups have a similar adherence to treatment as those who do.
Still, the study notes that only a few Kenyans attend such group meetings.
“Support group attendance was not associated with significantly improved ART adherence or viral suppression, although low support group uptake may have limited our ability to detect a statistically significant impact,” the researchers said.
In total, the researchers followed 1,959 people living with HIV between 2013 and December 2019 in the four countries.
Hundreds of Kenyans from Nyanza and the South Rift Valley also took part in the study.
“We assessed the impact of HIV support group participation on ART adherence and viral suppression among adult PLWH on ART in four sub-Saharan African countries and found that support group participation was generally low and was not significantly associated with ART adherence or viral suppression,” researchers say in the study published by the BMC Infectious Diseases journal.
The Kenyan researchers are from the Henry Jackson Foundation Medical Research International, a US military outfit with offices in health centres supported by Pepfar in Kisumu and Kericho.
Others are from the US Army Medical Research Directorate in Kisumu.
They noted that there exist basic guidelines for the formation and operation of HIV support groups.
But the researchers found no standardisation in the services they provide and the groups varied in the level of formality, location of meetings, number of participants, frequency of attendance and topics discussed.
“In Kisumu West, the meetings are alternated bi-weekly between the facility and the community. A snack is usually served during the meetings,” they say.
When well managed, such groups have previously been associated with better ARV adherence.
For instance, in 2012 a study led by Loice Achieng at Kijabe Hospital showed support groups were associated with better long-term treatment success and with better adherence.
New patients in the Kijabe programme were required to identify a treatment buddy, someone who had already been in treatment, to encourage and assist with medication adherence.
Edited by A.N