Patient Satisfaction and Medication Adherence with Community Pharmacy Anti-Retroviral Therapy Refill Programme in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Traditional hospital-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery systems in Nigeria are burdened by overcrowding, long waiting times, and service inefficiencies. To optimize Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) care, differentiated service delivery (DSD) models, specifically community pharmacy-based ART refill programme, were introduced to decentralize routine medication refill for stable patients. Objectives: This study assessed patient satisfaction, medication adherence, and their associated determinants among stable People Living with HIV (PLHIV) enrolled in the community pharmacy ART refill programme across Rivers State, Nigeria. Method: A descriptive cross-sectional design with a correlational component was adopted. A total of 284 people living with HIV enrolled in community pharmacy ART refill programs participated in the study. Data were analyzed using Advanced Microsoft Excel 365 for descriptive statistics and WINPEPI version 11.65 for inferential statistics at p<0.05. Result: The socio-demographic findings showed that most participants were aged 38–47 years (38.4%), female (58.5%), had secondary education (45.4%), were married (58.1%), and unemployed (83.1%). The majority had been on ART for 11–15 years (47.2%) and had used community pharmacy refill services for 5–6 years (58.8%). Findings further revealed that 68.0% of respondents were satisfied and 28.2% were highly satisfied with the services provided. ART adherence was generally good, as 97.5% of participants demonstrated good adherence, while 1.4% and 1.1% showed fair and poor adherence, respectively. Chi-square analysis showed significant associations between satisfaction and ART duration (χ²=8.276, p=0.041) as well as community pharmacy refill duration (χ²=10.375, p=0.016). However, no significant relationships were observed between satisfaction and socio-demographic characteristics or ART adherence (p>0.05). Conclusion: Community pharmacy-based ART refill services provide a highly acceptable model of HIV care among clinically stable PLHIV in Rivers State. The high levels of patient satisfaction observed support the continued implementation and expansion of differentiated service delivery through community pharmacies. Strengthening pharmacist capacity, maintaining service quality, and ensuring uninterrupted ART availability may further improve patient experience and long-term treatment outcomes.