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Article History

Received: 6 October 2023

Accepted: 14 February 2025

First Online: 1 March 2025

Declarations

:

: Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Jimma University (Ref. No. IHPPGJ\7080\22). Official supporting letters were provided to the Director of the Institute of Health and the ART Department of the Hospital. All collected data were kept confidential, and patient medical record numbers were used to differentiate study participants during data collection. Secondary data retrieved from the patient cards/databases which had already been collected for ART care, were used in this study. Due to the challenges and impracticality of reaching individual HIV Patients, individual-level written informed consent was not sought. Instead, the Ethical Review Board (IRB) of the University waived the requirement for written consent, which was approved by Health facilities’ offices. The hospital database management department had previously obtained consent from each HIV/AIDS patient to use their data for research purposes in a confidential manner during their enrolment in the ART program.

: All authors declare that they have agreed to the publication of this study.

: The authors declare no competing interests.