Abstract:

The study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of non-communicable diseases among HIV positive individuals in Chingola District, Zambia. The widespread success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has caused HIV to change from an acute to a chronic illness. Although the life expectancy of people living with HIV (PLHIV) has increased dramatically as a result of this advancement, new health issues have also emerged, most notably the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in this population. HIV-positive people are increasingly being diagnosed with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory conditions. The study was carried out in Zambia's Copperbelt Province's Chingola District. Purposively, five of the district's largest antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics were chosen based on patient volume and accessibility. Between January and May of 2025, a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out involving 500 participants. The results show that most prevalent non-communicable disease among the 500 HIV-positive people was hypertension, which affected 268 participants i.e. 53.58% of the sample. The analysis identified predictors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) include age which had the odds of having an NCD increased by 5% for every year, indicating that age was a significant factor (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03–1.08, p < 0.001). The study concludes that there is a significant burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the district.

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