APA Individual Member Amit Timilsian contributed as the first author to the scientific article in Wiley's Health Expectations Journal. The study, titled "HIV Care-Seeking Pathways and Barriers to the Continuum of Care Faced by Persons Living With HIV in Rural Nepal: A Qualitative Study," sheds light on the challenges faced by people living with HIV in rural Nepal.
Background: The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has a major impact on a person's social and personal lives, affecting both physical and mental health. To meet the global 95‐95‐95 target, it is essential to understand and address the multi‐level challenges to improve the continuum of care for persons living with HIV (PLWH). This study delves into the care‐seeking pathways and barriers encountered by PLWH residing in rural areas of Nepal, shedding light on the complexities of accessing and navigating the continuum of care.
Design: This study was designed as a qualitative thematic study that consisted of in‐depth interviews among 21 PLWH and key‐informant interviews among four health service providers in rural districts of Koshi province in Nepal. Semi‐structuredi nterview guidelines were used to ensure consistency in the data collection process, followed by Inductive Coding to identify and categorize the data into codes. Subsequently, sub‐themes and themes were developed, and manifest analysis was conducted to analyze the data. The findings of the study are presented in this paper in the form of excerpts.
Results: The multilevel barriers to HIV care continuum included (i) socio‐cultural barriers such as stigma, discrimination, fearof disclosure, and heavy reliance on traditional healers; (ii) socio‐economic barriers such as poverty, limited access to healthinsurance, low health literacy and the exclusion of PLWH under Social Security Act; (iii) fatalistic lifestyles characterized byheavy alcohol consumption, and poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy and (iv) health system‐related barriers such as mistreatment by healthcare providers, and long distances to ART centers.
