Introduction:
South Africa has the world’s largest antiretroviral therapy (ART) program. However, a high default rate was observed in most districts of Limpopo Province among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on antiretroviral treatment, which has an impact on the achie­vement of 95-95-95 strategy. In that strategy, the second and third 95s are retention into care and viral load suppression, which are severely affected. The current study seeks to determine patients’ perceptions regarding the factors contributing to defaulting from antiretroviral treatment at a se­lected clinic. The study aim to explore and describe patients’ perceptions on the factors contributing to defaulting from antiretroviral treatment. The study was conducted in a selected clinic in the Vhembe District.

Material and methods:
A qualitative descriptive, exploratory, and contextual study design was used in this study. A non-probability purposive sampling method was applied to select adults living with HIV, who have defaulted from ART and were lost to follow-up. Unstructured individual face-to-face interviews were employed to collect data from 13 participants, and obtained data were evaluated using Tesch’s eight-step data analysis.

Results:
The findings of the study resulted in three themes: 1) challenges faced by patients while on ART; 2) social problems experienced by patients on ART; and 3) healthcare workers' attitudes contributing to patients defaulting from ART. The identified factors contributing to patients defaulting from ART included staff attitude, treatment side effects, lack of knowledge, and lack of family support.

Conclusions:
Patients’ defaulting from ART is a marker of poor adherence to treatment, leading to resistance. Healthcare system will continue to bear the burden of the disease affecting socio-economic status of the country and reduction in the life span of the population; therefore, these factors should be considered decisively.