The constraints of antiretroviral uptake in rural areas: the case of Thamaga and surrounding villages, Botswana

Figures & data

Fig. 1. ARV sites in Botswana.

Fig. 2. Study area.

Table 1. Summary of objectives, research questions and methods of data collection and analysis.

Objectives	Research questions	Methods of data collection	Tools of data analysis
1. To examine the extent of ARV uptake in these villages	How do age and gender influence ARV uptake among the infected?	Tracking people on ARV with aid of health workers	Use of SPSS, Bar graphs, Microsoft Excel. Listing responses from survey data
		• 95% significance level established
2. To find out the socio-economic factors which inhibit or constrain ARV uptake in these villages	How do public attitudes, culture, religion, lack of dialogue between parents and children and residence or distance affect the uptake of ARV in Thamaga and surrounding villages?	Use of questionnaires and interviews (with the residents or the public, key informants and people on ARV)	Description: listing responses from survey data. Use of Frequencies, SPSS and Bar graphs

Table 2. Age and sex distribution of patients on ARVs in Thamaga and surrounding villages, 2009.

Age range (years)	Females at Thamaga hospital	Females in surrounding clinics	Males in Thamaga hospital	Males in surrounding clinics	Total	Percentage
0–4	17	6	15	2	40	1.12
5–9	17	0	19	2	38	1.06
10–14	15	5	15	1	36	1.01
15–19	4	11	7	3	25	0.70
20–24	21	101	2	15	139	3.89
25–29	101	273	23	77	474	13.27
30–34	164	325	84	179	752	21.05
35–39	146	199	127	191	663	18.56
40–44	116	126	96	132	470	13.16
45–49	87	80	86	107	360	10.08
50–54	61	45	89	55	250	7
55–59	30	27	55	36	148	4.14
60+	45	33	45	46	169	4.73
Age unknown	2	2	2	2	8	0.22
Total	826	1233	665	848	3572	100

Source: MOH (2009).

Table 3. Number of people collecting ARVs from clinics in the study villages in 2010.

ARV site	Total number of patients
Thamaga primary hospital	1646
Nkoyaphiri clinic	1726
Gabane clinic	392
Thamaga clinic	114
Mmankgodi clinic	70
Kopong clinic	200
Mmopane clinic	120
Total	4268

Source: MOH (2010).

Table 4. How would you treat someone who is taking ARVs?

	Frequency	Percent	Cumulative per cent
With love and respect	68	46.9	46.9
Do not want anything to do with them	11	7.6	7.6
Treat like any other person	66	45.5	45.5
Total	145	100.0	100.0

Table 5. Effect of religion on ARV.

	Per cent	Cum. per cent
Encourage ARVs	81	55.9
Do no talk about them	16	11.0
Do not know	9	6.2
Discourage them	18	12.4
Partnership between tradition and modern medicine	1	0.7
Not applicable	19	13.1
Allowed but abstinence emphasized	1	0.7
Total	145	100.0

Table 6. Effects of religion on ARV uptake.

			How the residents treat people taking ARV treatment	How the residents treat people taking ARV treatment	Total
			Treat with love, and no discrimination	Would not associate with patients on ARVs
Religion effects on ARV use	Encourage the use of ARVs	Count	82	0	82
		% within religion effects on ARV use	100.0%	0.0%	100.0%
		% of total	56.6%	0.0%	56.6%
	Do not discuss the use of ARVs	Count	45%	0	45
		% within religion effects on ARV use	100.0%	0.0%	100.0%
		% of total	31.0%	0.0%	31.0%
	Discourage the use of ARVs	Count	3	15	18%
		% within religion effects on ARV use	16.7%	83.3%	100.0%
		% of total	2.1%	10.3%	12.4%
Total		Count	130	15	145
		% within religion effects on ARV use	89.7%	10.3%	100.0%
		% of total	89.7%	10.3%	100.0%

Fig. 3. Parental dialogue on HIV/AIDS, ARV issues.

Fig. 4. Age of case study HIV patients.

Fig. 5. People living with HIV and on ARV.

Table 7. Distance travelled by HIV patients to ARV clinics.

Distance	Frequency	Percent
0–0.5 km	32	51.9
1–10 km	11	18.5
More than 10 km	18	29.6
Total	61	100.0

Table 8. ANOVA on distance travelled by patients.

			Sum of squares	df	Mean square	F	Sig.
Between groups	Combined	Unweighted	3.126	1	3.126	4.224	0.044
			3.126	1	3.126	4.224	0.044
			3.126	1	3.126	4.224	0.044
Within groups			43.661	59	0.740
Total			46.787	60

Ministry of Health. (2009). Thamaga Primary Hospital Medical Records, Gaborone, Ministry of Health.

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Ministry of Health. (2010). HAART Patient Update Summary, Gaborone, Ministry of Health.

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