Kenya's HIV/AIDS prevalence rate declines to 5.9 percent

HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Kenya has dropped marginally from 6.1 percent in 2005 to 5.9 percent this year, health officials said on Thursday.

According to the latest statistics released by the National AIDS Control Council of Kenya (NACC), the HIV prevalence rate in urban areas is 9.6 per cent while in rural areas stands at 4.6 per cent.

NACC Director Alloys Orago attributed the slight drop to a range of programs such as Voluntary Testing and Counseling (VCT) and initiatives to prevent pregnant HIV-positive mothers from passing the virus along to their babies.

Orago said the statistics showed that the prevalence rate among youths aged 15 to 24 years was high among girls at 4.5 percent while it stood at 0.8 percent among boys.

The NACC director said more attention would be focused on women as the female prevalence stands at 7.7 percent as opposed to that of males at 4.0 percent.

"Girls, women and children are the most vulnerable groups to HIV/AIDS infection," the director noted.

Currently, 1.27 million Kenyans are infected by HIV, half of whom are women.

"There is an increase in the number of children being born infected with HIV meaning that there is still a large number of women who have not fully understood the message," Orago said.

He said 64,000 women have tested positive and need treatment while 39,000 children need Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). Orago said out of the 263,000 adults who require ARVs, only 90,000 people are getting them.

He said 1.2 million children have been orphaned from HIV/AIDS- related illnesses. Orago said about 164 people were infected by HIV every day, which translates to 60,000 new infections annually.

The NACC director said 90,000 people infected by Aids had been enrolled on life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs.

"However, the number of infected people who urgently require the drugs stands at 263,000 countrywide," he said.

According to the figures, the major challenge facing the campaign was lack of adequate funds but NACC said despite having fulfilled the conditionalities set by the Global Fund to address good governance, the money had not yet been released.

"The government needs to match donor funding for HIV/AIDS intervention so that we can sustain the programs," said NACC Deputy Director for Finance and Administration, Beatrice Gathirwa.

Kenya has now matched the achievement of Uganda -- the country cited by UNAIDS as the most effective in the developing world in controlling the spread of AIDS.

The large number of Kenyans who have died from AIDS-related diseases has also contributed to the reduced prevalence of HIV infections, experts point out.

Kenya's achievement in generally slowing the epidemic is especially noteworthy in the context of Africa -- home to more than 60 percent of the 40 million people worldwide with HIV.

Source: Xinhua