National AIDS Report Paints Grim Picture. 11/5/10

Nyanza still bears the greatest Aids burden in Kenya, with a prevalence rate of 14.9 per cent.

According to the latest Kenya Aids Indicator Survey, Nairobi is second with a prevalence rate of 8.8 per cent among people aged between 15 and 64 years.

It is followed by Coast, which has a prevalence rate of 8.1 per cent.

The report, dated 2007, is the first indicator survey and the second population-based HIV sero-survey in Kenya. It was unveiled in a regional dissemination workshop in Mombasa on Tuesday.

The survey was conducted in all eight provinces and nearly 18,000 respondents, both men and women in the age bracket of 15-64 took part.

According to the report, women carry the heavier burden of the disease, with 9.5 per cent being HIV positive in Coast Province, compared to 6.3 per cent of the men in the same age group.

Coast provincial commissioner Ernest Munyi, in a speech read on his behalf by Yussuf Mohamed, a district officer at the PC’s office, said that HIV/Aids pandemic could hinder the millennium development goals if people failed to respond to mitigation efforts.

The study shows low knowledge of HIV status nationally (83.6 per cent), with Coast showing a slightly higher proportion of those not knowing their status (93.9 per cent).

However, 86.4 per cent of uninfected adults said they were willing to be tested for HIV at home in the future, indicating that confidentiality may be a major concern.

Among the estimated 146,000 HIV infected adults in 2007, access to care and treatment services was low, with only 4.2 per cent taking daily cotrimoxazole (septrin).

Prevent infections
Septrin is a drug that all HIV infected individuals should take daily to prevent common infections, as recommended by the Ministry of Medical Services.

The survey, which follows the first population based HIV sero-survey in Kenya in 2003, points out that mainly because the majority of HIV infected adults were unaware of their status, only 10.7 per cent of the adults eligible for anti-retroviral (ARV) medication were accessing treatment and care.

The survey set a new standard because it assessed HIV as well as syphilis and HSV-2 rates in the population. (KNA)