Does membership of peer support group affect retention? A study among plwha in Enugu State Nigeria

BACKGROUND: With the widely acknowledged ART scale up, retention of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in care remains a global challenge. The study aimed at assessing and comparing retention among persons living with HIV in peer support groups and their counterparts not belonging to support groups in Enugu State Nigeria. METHOD: It was across-sectional comparative study. Multi stage study design was used to select 840 PLWHA in peer support groups and non-peer support groups from 8 comprehensive HIV treatment centers in Enugu State. Questionnaires were used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics while retention over a period of one year was extracted from the participants' medical records. Chi square test of statistical significance and multivariate analysis using binary logistic regression were used in the analysis with the level of statistical significance set at ap-value of