Kenya: Homa Bay County Top In New HIV Infection Cases, Say Report

By Staff Writer 

A new study report ‘The National HIV and Aids Estimates’, by National Aids Control Council and the National Aids and STI Control Programme released today, Wednesday August 20, indicate that over 105,500 new HIV infections were reported in Kenya last year.

Survey shows that only five counties accounted for the new cases in the report, with Homa Bay having the highest rate of new infections with 12,940 people, followed by Kisumu 10,350, Siaya, Migori and Kisii each have 9,870, 6,790 and 4,890 respectively.

The five counties also have the leading number of deaths linked to HIV illnesses.

Meanwhile, Wajir County in North Eastern region had the least number of new infection cases, with just one per population of 200, while Tana River, Marsabit, Mandera and Garissa Counties each had a single infection per every 100 people.

HIV estimates are prepared annually by the two agencies under the Ministry of Health to gauge the impact of the epidemic nationally and in the counties.

The study also indicates the HIV prevalence, Aids-related deaths, the impact of care and treatment and the number of pregnant women and children affected as well as orphans.

The report indicates that the number of the people on Anti-Retroviral therapy has significantly increased by over 500,000 since 2005, as over 980,000 required treatments last year.

These are the people with CD4 counts of less than 350.

HIV among females between the ages of 15 to 24 was higher in 2013 than that in males.

“HIV cases among young females aged 15-24 years was higher than that of males in the same age group at 2.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent,” the report noted.

“Young women in this age group make up 21% of all new HIV infections in Kenya,” the study further indicates.

Despite the figures, the Ministry of Health said that there was a 15% decline in the rate of HIV infection among adults aged 15 to 49 years in 2013 compared to the numbers in the survey done in 2000.

“There were a total of 105,000 new infections 14 years ago, compared to the 88,000 in 2013. This is due to the increased use of prevention and treatment,” the report said.

The Aids and STI control agencies attributed this to the increased use of anti-retroviral drugs, which they said, have saved more than 380,000 lives since 2009.

The ministry said that three times fewer people died of HIV in 2013, compared to the number of fatalities 10 years ago.

“Approximately 58,465 people died of Aids related complications in 2013 compared to 167,000 in 2003. “The decline is directly attributable to the wider access to free treatment” the Ministry of Health said.

HIV/AIDS is the second most killer disease in Africa after malaria, with South Africa, leading in the number of infections across the continent.

Since its discovery in mid 1980’s, governments in partnership with international health organization such as World Health Organizations and other agencies have found was to minimize the strength of the virus by introducing ARV drugs and intensifying awareness campaigns among the people to stem the spread of the disease, in the process offering free testing services and distribution of free condoms for protection at the same time emphasizing on having a single sex partner always.