Background:Globally, the benefits of viral load suppression in improving the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS have been established. In 2010, the South African Government decentralised ART to the primary care level. This study intended to determine the effect of this decentralisation in achieving viral load suppression among patients. Objective:To determine the prevalence of HIV viral load suppression and factors related to the suppression among patients initiated on ART at Pedisong 4 clinic, Tshwane District in Pretoria. Methods:A prospective cohort study was conducted on 98 patients initiated on ART between 01 November 2012 and 30 April 2013. Based on the viral load results, they were divided into those who achieved Viral Load Suppression (VLS), and those who did not (NVLS). Analyses were done using SAS ® (version 9.2) for Microsoft software. A p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results:Ninety patients (91.8%; 95%CI, 84.7% -95.8%) achieved viral load suppression while eight (8.2%; 95%CI, 4.2% -15.3%), did not. Of the 98 patients, 63 (64%) were female. In the NVLS group, the female to male ratio was 7:1 (p = 0.038). There was no relationship between viral load suppression and patients' baseline characteristics, behavioural characteristics and clinical characteristics (p > 0.05). ART adherence reported in both patient groups was ≥ 87.0%. Conclusion:There was good viral load suppression in patients initiated on ART at Pedisong 4 clinic. Patients' baseline, behavioural and clinical characteristics were not related to viral load suppression, necessitating further large sample size studies in various health facilities.

Medical research as a component of undergraduate medical training is a very crucial aspect that has the potential of developing certain skills in students. These skills would serve as a means of improving the standard of healthcare that the students deliver after graduation by means of the generation of new scientific findings and introduction of good clinical practice. [1,2] Clinicians who are engaged in research in the field of medicine are often referred to as physician-scientists. [3] The literature suggests that there has been a steady decline in the number of physician-scientists worldwide, who are very difficult to replace. Some of the reasons for this decline have been attributed to the absence of good training programmes, unattractive careers in clinical research, and inadequate exposure to research at an early stage of the medical curriculum. [3-5] The need for more physicianscientists has resulted in the rapid expansion of medical research-related courses at several medical schools. This trend should expose undergraduate medical students to medical research-related courses at an early stage in their medical education, with emphasis on acquisition of skills, knowledge and attitudes rather than factual learning. All these would lead to students developing the habit and skills of active inquiry, which are inculcated for life. [4,6,7] Furthermore, various studies have shown that medical students who were enthusiastic about medical research during training developed an interest in research after graduation. These doctors most likely fill the void of physician-scientists in the future. [2,4.8] Courses in evidence-based medicine, which are crucial in clinical practice, have also been introduced into the medical curriculum, together with epidemiology, research methods and journal article critique at some South African (SA) universities. [9-11] These courses have been shown to improve students' competencies at undergraduate level. [9-11] According to the literature, there is sufficient evidence that medical curricula in SA medical schools have been through significant renewal in the past decade. [7,9-12] Some of the outcomes include the early exposure of students to medical research as part of the modernisation of the undergraduate medical curriculum. [7] There is a strong indication that the quality of doctors would be highly influenced by this renewed curriculum. [7,13] Despite all the recent innovation regarding medical curricula in SA, a review of the literature showed very little information on the knowledge and attitudes of medical students in sub-Saharan Africa towards medical research. Therefore, this study was designed to describe the knowledge and attitudes of a sample of undergraduate medical students at a SA university with regard to medical research. Methods Study design and setting This was a descriptive, cross-sectional observational study conducted among medical students at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), Pretoria, SA, one of eight public-funded medical schools in SA that provi...