{"id":27051,"date":"2016-07-20T01:33:32","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T01:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/kenya-sees-dramatic-rise-in-hiv-infections-study\/"},"modified":"2016-07-20T01:33:12","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T01:33:12","slug":"kenya-sees-dramatic-rise-in-hiv-infections-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/kenya-sees-dramatic-rise-in-hiv-infections-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya sees dramatic rise in HIV infections, study shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

{The number of new HIV infections in Kenya is rising faster than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.}<\/p>\n

Kenya has been cited as one of the countries with \u201cstubborn\u201d HIV new infections.<\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s rate of new HIV infections has risen steadily over the past decade, more dramatically than in other countries, a study has shown.<\/p>\n

Beyond Kenya, the world faces \u201csignificant challenges\u201d in ending the Aids epidemic by 2030.<\/p>\n

According to the study, More than 1.8 million Kenyans were living with HIV in 2015, and 39 per cent were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs to slow the disease\u2019s progression<\/p>\n

The study from the Global Burden of Disease collaborative network, published Tuesday in The Lancet HIV, reveals that the dramatic increase in new infections was undermining efforts to end the Aids epidemic by 2030.<\/p>\n

From the study, the number of new HIV infections in Kenya is rising faster than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n

Between 2005 and 2015, the number of new HIV cases grew by an average of 7 per cent per year, one of the highest increases in the world.<\/p>\n

The number of new infections decreased over the same time period in Rwanda, Somalia, and Uganda, according to the study.<\/p>\n

LOWEST ARV COVERAGE<\/p>\n

Kenya is also one of the countries with the lowest antiretroviral coverage at 39 per cent, below the regional average which stands at 43 per cent.<\/p>\n

Despite all the high rates of new infections and the rise of people living with HIV, the number of Kenyans dying from the disease has reduced from 120,670 in 2005 to 51,700 in 2015, reveals the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is need for a more proactive approach in countering new HIV infections in the country. Voluntary testing and treatment is key to avoid further spread of the virus,\u201d said Dr Nduku Kilonzo, the director of the National Aids Control Council (NACC).<\/p>\n

Dr Kilonzo said the new infections was because the country was not doing well in testing and counselling of adolescents and that knowledge of HIV\/ Aids is scattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn early 1990s everyone knew what HIV was all about because they were investing significantly in marketing testing and counselling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cAdolescents who are the most affected groups are not going for testing hence transmitted and acquiring new infections.<\/p>\n

He said in Kenya below 60 per cent of the population are well equipped with the HIV\/Aids information. \u201cWe need to review what worked well in the past and invest in it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2015 HIV estimates, we had 72,000 new HIV infections among adults. This was a reduction from the more than 88,000 recorded in 2013, as we make progress, the numbers are still unsustainably high.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething to worry about is that of the 72,000 new adult HIV infections recorded in 2015, more than 35,000 or 46 per cent were among adolescents and young people aged between the ages of 15 to 24 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

LACK OF FUNDS<\/p>\n

Dr Kilonzo said government\u2019s failure to fund HIV prevention and systems to deliver HIV prevention was a contributing factor to the new infections.<\/p>\n

She said Kenyans depend on projects for HIV prevention and treatments that once they elapsed, the people are left hanging hence the new infection rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must fund HIV prevention, care and treatment. Currently, no government budget for the same. We need to put systems place and not just looking at projects,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

The NACC director also said there is no consistency in what works best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not been consistent as a country and even global community on what is considered as a treatment target and until we do that at a country level, we will continue to have baseless goal. Which means we are headed nowhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"HIV\/Aids<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{The number of new HIV infections in Kenya is rising faster than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.} Kenya has been cited as one of the countries with \u201cstubborn\u201d HIV new infections. Kenya\u2019s rate of new HIV infections has risen steadily over the past decade, more dramatically than in other countries, a study has shown. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[99],"byline":[2461],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-27051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-daily-nation"],"bylines":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2461,"name":"Daily Nation","slug":"daily-nation","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27051"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=27051"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=27051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}