HIV and Aids Awareness: 1.4M adults,106,000children live with Aids

1.4 million adults and over 106 thousand children are living with HIV/AIDS in the country according to data from the health ministry. From the data, 42% of adults new infections occur among the youth a big concern for the ministry.

“The first step is to ensure that everyone who is a person living with HIV has been identified is put on treatment. And as we know right now we have almost over 3000 ART facilities across the country that ensure that anyone who has been identified is put on treatment. We have also made good progress in terms of ensuring that the people who are on treatment actually access some of the best ART regimance.” Said Mr. Nelson Otwoma, the executive director National Network of PLHAS in Kenya (NEPHAK)

Despite the milestones made in the fight against HIV/ AIDS, new infections remain a big hurdle even as the country has achieved 83% of people who know their status, 83% of those on treatment and 78% virally surpressed in the ambitious target to eliminate HIV/ AIDS by 2030.

The health ministry is urging all the counties to scale up undetectable= untransmissable better known as U=U campaign.

“This meaning that for a clients who is HIV positive and are not virally surpressed and are with sexual encounters then they can be able to transmit the virus to their partners so thus it is important to be virally surpressed.” National AIDS Control Council CEO Dr. Ruth Masha

“They should actually take their medication as advised by your health facility or the health care worker and you have a durable viral surpression then now you can actually be able to protect your partners and therefore this will help us as a country to ensure that we are able to reduce the number of new infections in addition to the other prevention combinations strategies that we are using.” She added

However stigma still remains a challenge especially among the youth resulting to many of them shying away from getting treatment and adhering to medication.

“We also have this transition where we have the children transitioning to young adults, this is a very critical area we realize that if disclosure is not made in good time then now we can interfere with the adherence part of it because when someone is a youth they can decide not to take the drug so that is a critical area that we need to check because it is a reality.” She said

Despite the ethicacy of adherence to medication to reduce transmission, additional measures need to be put in place especially among key populations.

“In addition to the mother taking ARVs and being virally surpressed we still ensure that the child has an additional protection by ensuring that the child actually is on the niviropin syrup which they take until the end of the breastfeeding period . So this campaign really the data is there to show that sexual transmission if you are virally surpressed and undetectable then you do not transmit the virus but for the other modes of transmission we are putting in additional measures to ensure that people are highly protected and there are no cases of transmission.” She said

“It works on two fonts it works for the well being of the client but also for the public health goal of ending HIV and AIDS by the year 2030.” She concluded

2621 adolescents and young people died of AIDS in Kenya in 2020 with the ministry emphasizing on the need to pay special attention to the sexual risks and vulnerabilities experienced among the young people.