It has emerged that a popular Anti-retroviral medication (ARV) is leading to weight gain among the Kenyans who are on Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART) in the country.

This has since seen doctors get cautioned against prescribing it noting that observed weight gain is different from the weight people normally add as they return to good health following treatment.

The medicine is question has been revealed to be containing one component of medicine that is reacting towards adding weight to Kenyans which is abnormal one and hence needs to be checked.

“Elevated BMI and weight gain among people living with HIV on TLD are concerning safety signals,” researchers said.

Over 12 years of follow-up, people with HIV gained weight at three times the rate of HIV-negative people (0.22kg per year vs 0.09kg per year, p < 0.001). By year 12, people with HIV and HIV-negative people had similar BMIs (28.4 vs 29.4).

Dr Frank Njenga, a psychiatrist, noted that HIV negative people using ARVs may suffer psychiatric problems.

Some of the long-term side effects include kidney, liver or pancreas damage, and Abacavir hypersensitivity reaction, which results in fever, vomiting, and/or nausea, high blood sugar, diabetes and high lactic acid levels in the blood.