Continuous free access to HAART could be one of the potential factors impacting on loss to follow-up in HAART-eligible patients living in a resource-limited setting: N'djamena, Chad.

Background: Retention of HAART-eligible HIV-infected patients in clinical follow-up systems are now becoming an important issue in sub-Saharan African countries.

Methods: In this retrospective study (April 2008 to November 2011), we assessed the attrition rate variations in a cohort of 509 HAART-eligible patients in Chad.

Results: Decrease in levels of loss to follow-up were observed during the implementation of continuous free access to HAART (72.