Kenya’s war on HIV not all doom and gloom as infections drop by 78.2pc in 10 years

Kenya has reduced new HIV infections from 101,448 in 2013 to 22,154 in 2023, resulting in a 78.2 percent decrease over the past decade, the National Syndemic Diseases Council (NSDCC) has reported.

During the 7th Maisha Scientific Conference in Mombasa, NSDCC chief executive Dr Ruth Laibon-Masha disclosed that Kenya has the 7th highest number of people living with HIV in Africa, with 1.4 million individuals affected, equal to the numbers in Uganda and Zambia. Nigeria and Tanzania have 1.7 million people living with HIV, Mozambique has 2.1 million, and South Africa has the highest number at 7.8 million.

“41 per cent of adult new infections occur among adolescents and young people. The number of those aged 15 years and above living with HIV is 1,309,315, children aged 0-14 are 67,869, young people aged 15-24 are 145,142 while adolescents aged 10-19 are 88,853,” she said. 

“Adolescents and young people aged 15-34 account for 75 percent of all new HIV infections among adults while we have also observed pockets of increasing new HIV infections in Uasin Gishu, Mandera, Bungoma and Samburu counties,” the CEO highlighted, further explaining that young women aged 15-24 years are approximately four times more likely to become infected with HIV than young men. 

“The mother-to-child transmission rates declined from 14 per cent in 2012 to 8.6 per cent in 2022. We also noted that 24 counties recorded a reduction in new HIV infections among children aged 0-14 years, while in the four counties of Mandera, Wajir, Samburu and Narok reported very high mother-to-child transmission rates above 20 percent. 

According to Dr Masha, 4,474 children aged 0-14 acquired HIV, mostly associated with mother-to-child transmission last year.  

According to NSDCC, Aids-related deaths reduced by 68 per cent in the last 10 years.

“The highest reduction in deaths is among children (0-14 years) at 78 percent and lowest among adolescents and young people (15-14) at 42 percent.”

Dr Masha noted a changing epidemic typology, with 22 counties experiencing a concentrated HIV epidemic.

“We can also see a ‘generalising’ epidemic in four counties and a ‘mixed epidemic’ in 21 counties in the country.”  

The CEO is of the view that despite the gains made in the war against HIV in the last decade, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. 

“Despite Kenya implementing a robust prevention programme, we are still far off from closing the resource gaps,” she said while lifting the lid on the gaps they have identified. 

“We need to improve HIV and other health outcomes in men and boys because access to diagnosis is low for men and boys compared to women and girls. In 2022, men accounted for 35 percent of all people living with HIV. However, Aids-related deaths among men account for 48 percent of all deaths in the same period,” Dr Masha explained. 

She added, “Addressing determinants of risk and vulnerability such as drug and substance abuse, optimising uptake of proven prevention options such as PrEP, prioritising the adoption and rapid scale-up of high impact interventions and addressing overlapping challenges such as adolescent pregnancy and sexual and gender-based violence as rising HIV infections,” the CEO highlighted. 

“There are low levels of HIV prevention knowledge among young people in the country as only 59.2 per cent of females and 60.5 per cent of males aged 15-34, as per the Kenya Demographic Health Survey of 2022, have knowledge about HIV prevention.”

Mr Harry Kimtai, the principal Secretary of State Department for Medical Services, lauded NSDCC’s efforts in eliminating the virus from the country. 

“Between 2013 and 2022 the number of individuals receiving lifelong anti-retroviral treatment has nearly doubled, significantly enhancing quality of life and curbing mortality rates. We take pride in the wide-scale availability of more patient-friendly medications which have yielded superior treatment outcomes,” the PS said.

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