HIV/AIDS in Kenya

HIV prevention in Kenya

A principle aim of the 2005/06-2009/10 Kenyan National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan is to reduce the number of new HIV infections by using new, evidence-based approaches to HIV prevention. The main prevention strategies outlined in the Plan include:

Increasing availability and access to counseling and testing

Condom promotion

Strengthening sexually transmitted disease (STD) and HIV programme linkages

Expanding services for prevention for mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)

Ensuring more effective and targeted behaviour change communication

Promoting abstinence, safe sex and delayed sex debut among young people

Improve availability of safe blood supplies

Ensure injection safety and expand access to post-exposure prophylaxis and universal precautions

Ensure mutually supporting prevention and treatment efforts.

Source: www.avert.org/hiv-aids-kenya.htm

Today in Kenya, the HIV epidemic is better understood.  The Kenya demographic and health survey (KDHS 2003), estimates that 7% of adults age 15 - 49 years in Kenya are infected with HIV and that rates in women are nearly double the rates in men.  It is estimated that there are about 150,000 AIDS deaths per year twice the rate of 1998.

The number of people living with HIV in Kenya includes about 1.1 million adults between 15 and 49 years, another 60,000  aged over 50 and above, and approximately 100,000 children.  Urban populations have higher adult HIV prevalence (10%) than do rural populations (6%).  Regional variation is significant.  Prevalence in Nyanza province is 15% in adults and 10% in Nairobi.  Adult prevalence in provinces ranges around 5%, with the exception of North Eastern Province , where prevalence is less than 1%, it is the only region of the country where the epidemic is at a low level.

 New infections in young women have significantly declined in the last 5 years, as evidenced by its decline in pregnant women under age 25.  But HIV prevalence in girls 15 to 19 years old is 6 times higher than in boys in the same age group, despite lower levels of sexual activity, and the rates in pregnant teens are even higher.  Protecting teenage girls and young remains a great challenge for controlling HIV infection in Kenya.

 A significant portion of new infections in adults today (likely more than half) takes place within the family; an estimated 7.5% of married couples are discordant for HIV - that is, one partner is infected with HIV and the other is not.

 The Challenge of HIV/AIDS in Kenya

Socio Economic Impact

80% of the HIV+ population is in the economically active age group of 15 – 49 years and many of them are sick and dying.

The rate of AIDS deaths has risen drastically and it is estimated that there are about 150,000 AIDS deaths per year, double rate in 1998. this increasing death rate, which exceeds the rate of new infections, tends to reduce overall prevalence as the epidemic in Kenya moves into the “death phase”

 AIDS deaths in Kenya have a profound and increasing societal and economic impact. The total death rate from all causes among adults 15-49 years has more than tripled since 1990. it is estimated that 1.7 million children under 18 years are orphans, about half due to AIDS. As the cumulative total of AIDS deaths rises, the impact of these deaths on society will become increasingly severe. Already, life expectancy in Kenya has dropped from 60 years in 1993 to about 47 years in 2004 due to HIV/AIDS. 

It is widely accepted that HIV/AIDS has major economic and social impact on individuals, families, communities and on society as whole. In Kenya, as in other countries in sub – Saharan Africa, AIDS threatens personal and and national well being by negatively affecting health, lifespan, and productive capacity of the individual; and critically, by severe constraining the accumulation of human capital, and its transfer between generations. Research across many severely affected, low income countries clearly demonstrates that HIV/AIDS is the most serious impediment to economic growth and development in such countries. There is no reason to expect Kenya to be an exception.

Quite clearly, curbing the spread of AIDS and mitigating its negative impact is a prerequisite to Kenya’s social and economic development.

 Stigma and Discrimination

Legal and human rights interventions can protect our HIV + population against stigma and discrimination with respect to housing, education and employment, but the same cannot be said for stigma, which is strongly manifested in Kenyan society: AIDS is still surrounded by attitudes of shame and disgrace. Stigma continues to be a major barrier to an important goal in prevention efforts; that of every citizen knowing their HIV status.

 Prevention

Prevention of HIV transmission is paramount to our country’s development. HIV prevention strategies include promoting abstinence, encouraging delay in onset of sexual activity among adolescents, distribution of condoms, blood safety, peer education of high risk groups, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) and integration of AIDS education into schools curricula. Yet all these strategies face resistance and generate controversy attributable to slow behaviour change, cultural, religious and economic factors among others.