This is a cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to determine adherence to HIV protocol management among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Zamboanga City. Purposive sampling design was used to select 85 respondents for this study. The HIV protocol management questionnaire was used to gather data. It also employed case studies to further explore the experiences of four respondents in regards to their treatment and their current sexual behaviors. Frequencies, proportion, mean, and standard deviation were used to summarize and describe the data collected. Audio recordings and transcripts were used during the individual in-depth interview. The findings showed that 75.29% of the respondents have ≥ 95% adherence rate (adherent) and 24.71% have <95% adherence (non-adherent). The two most common reasons for missing their medication were: busy doing other things (22.35%) and simply forgetting (18.82%). Further, 61.18% are taking their medications on time each time and 97.65% complied with their treatment hub follow-up visits. For their current sexual behavior, 34.12% are still sexually active for the past 12 months; 34.12% are still with multiple partners; 34.12% either use condoms inconsistently or never use at all; lastly, 62.35% did not disclose their HIV status with their partners. This study concludes that the PLHIV in Zamboanga City have lower adherence rate to antiretroviral therapy (75.29%) as compared to the adherence rate of the Philippines which was noted to be 88.5%. It recommends other research designs that allow correlation of facilitating factors and barriers to ART adherence. Social support should also be reviewed and be factored in using a multidimensional scale to evaluate its effect on adherence rate. Lastly, viral load should be done prior to initiation of ART and during the course of their treatment to get a more accurate correlation between treatment outcome and adherence rate.

Keyword: Human immunodeficiency virus People living with HIV