The objective of our study is to address the relationship between food insecurity, unmet needs and ART adherence in youth living with HIV (YLWH). Previous research shows that food insecurity and unmet needs are substantial barriers to medication adherence and it has been analyzed specifically as it affects individuals living with HIV. Research also shows that YLWH are less likely to be adherent and reach viral suppression. To our knowledge, there has not been a study done that address the role of food insecurity and unmet needs in YLWH. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional survey that was conducted on 101 YLWH in the Bay Area of California to fill this gap in research. Our data proves to be statistically significant in showing that for every additional unmet need, the odds of high levels of adherence was reduced by 25% (OR= 0.75, p-value= 0.04). As participants moved from food security to food insecurity, the odds of excellent to very good adherence was lowered by 62.8% (OR= 0.37, p-value= 0.03).
