OBJECTIVES: HIV and AIDS is a major cause of premature death and impose a large socioeconomic burden in Kenya. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) is one of the interventions being implemented to mitigate these impacts. Studies on the survival rate and the socioeconomic factors explaining survival of patients on treatment follow up are very rare in Kenya. The objective of this research was to estimate the survival rate and factors associated with survival of the HIV positive patients on ART and those not on ART.  METHODS: Baseline characteristic of adults on ART and those not on ART with CD4 counts 250 and below at enrolment were collected from the patient charts between 2003 to 2010, from Mbagathi District Hospital (Mbagathi) (n=300) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (Moi) in Kenya (n=400). Kaplan Meier and life table analysis were used and survival durations measured in 3 monthly intervals.  RESULTS: The survival rate declined over time. Approximately 3% of the patients died within the first three months of treatment debut and 57% were still alive at the time of this study (after 78 months of follow up). 25% of the patients in Mbagathi died by the 11th cycle (33 months) (95% CI[7-15]) where as 25% of patients in Moi died by the 16th cycle (48 months) (95% CI[14-19]). In addition, after the initial 30 months of treatment follow up 77%, (95% CI[71.7-81.3%]) of patient enrolled in Mbagathi and 91.9%, (95% CI[88.5-94.3%]) enrolled in Moi were still alive, showing better survival rate of patients in Moi. The patients on ARVs were likely to survive longer than those not on ART, the female and married patients were also likely to survive longer than their male and unmarried counterparts.  CONCLUSIONS: The study findings shows that ART increases the survival rates, being female and married are also associated with increased survival rates.