the Star, 25 August 2014

Although HIV and Aids have highly been demystified, the government is warning of dire consequences if the current behavioural trend continue.

According to statistics on the effects of the disease that continues to tear families apart while affecting the overall performance of the economy, Homa Bay has been ranked as the county with the highest new HIV/Aids infection rate, with Nairobi bearing the burden of most people living with the deadly virus at 177,552.

Sadly still, six out of nine counties that account for 65 per cent of new infections countrywide are from the former Nyanza province, with the other three, Nakuru, Turkana and Bomet, Rift Valley.

According to the Kenya HIV Estimates and the Kenya HIV Prevention Revolution Road Map documents that were released last week by the National Aids Control Council, Homa Bay, Kisumu and Siaya counties have been rated as "hyper-endemic prevalence rates of over 15 per cent".

"Kenya's HIV prevalence stands at 5.6 per cent for adults aged 15-49 years of age, with a HIV burden of 1.6 million HIV infected, which makes Kenya the fourth highest HIV epidemic country in the world," the Health Secretary, James Macharia said during the launch.

The CS says that although the national prevalence rate has declined, Kenya continues to record high infection percentage, placing it among countries with highest infection rates globally.

Worrying figures that appear in the Estimates Technical Report of 2013, transmitted numbers in Homa Bay stand at 15,003, Kisumu has 12,645 while Siaya accounts for a total of 12,059.

The three counties are further enlisted among ten others that have high HIV burden, in a pool that also includes Migori, Kisii, Nakuru, Kakamega, Mombasa and Kiambu.

The reports which paint a grim picture of appropriate interventions towards curbing HIV/Aids further show young women aged between 15-24 years accounting for 21 per cent of the total new infections that stood at 101,560 in 2013.

Women account for 50,530 while men and children's transmission is 38,090 and 12,940 respectively.

Macharia now wants the public to embrace what he terms as a multi-sectoral approach in combating the deadly disease. He is challenging the public and service providers to redouble efforts that will fast track the realisation of "towards zero campaign", a brain child of the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta.

In a shift from norm, last week's figures were broken down per county; a move Macharia believes will communicate to specific counties on the need to put in place actual mechanisms that will ward off further infections, while attending to patients who have tested positive to the virus.

"Breaking down the data from the national outlook to counties will provide each county with the information that it needs for planning, implementation of policy standards and for mobilization and effective allocation of resources," Macharia says.

He has thrown his weight behind the NACC estimates, which he says are essential for planning.

Macharia reiterates that despite progress made in coverage of services and uptake of HIV/Aids information, yearly new infections remain abnormally high against the back drop of insufficient resources to put patients on anti-retroviral drugs.

The two reports further shows that women remain more vulnerable than their male counterparts, with the former accounting for an estimated 58 per cent of the total infected population.

Despite their superior margin in regard to ARVs unmet need, women still trail in uptake of the immune boosting drugs at 61 per cent compared to men's 64.

The NACC CEO, Nduku Kilonzo, while calling for an all-inclusive approach to lower infections, regrets that putting more patients on ARVs remains a challenge due to the rate of infection vis-a-vis available resources.

She says that through interventions that involve bio-medical, behaviour change, structural and geographical, Kenya could reduce 1.1 million new infections and 760,000 Aids-related deaths by 2030.

"There is need to enhance our technical efficiency if we are to mitigate the HIV impact," Kilonzo says, adding that the current infection rate is unsustainable.

The documents show that the prevalence rate among key populations stand at 29.3 per cent for sex workers, while people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men record 18.3 and 18.2 per cent respectively.

All the counties have been grouped into three broad categories according to the incidence rate. Twenty eight counties among them Nairobi, are ranked as Medium Incidence Clusters, while 10 are rated as Low Incidence Clusters.

Wajir is ranked as lowest incidence county with a paltry 20 total infections [18 adults and 2 children]. Incidentally, most counties from western and North Eastern are classified under the low incidence group, with Tana River and Lamu being enlisted in the same low cluster.

Macharia says that through the road map, which he describes as revolutionary, the government is aiming at making HIV and Aids everyone's business.

"It is informed by the need to stem new infections. The 100,000 infections will not get us where we need to go in reducing our epidemic," the CS says, adding that the high numbers remain costly in offering ARVs yearly.

He is however assuring public that the government will continue to increase funding to the HIV/Aids kitty to ensure that efforts aimed at lowering the rate of transmission are realized.

"Our second term medium plan aims for less than four per cent HIV prevalence in the country," Macharia says as he appeals for result-oriented approaches in curbing the more than 30 year-old menace.

BY HENRY KIBIRA

Source: the Star