- At least 2,600 people live with HIV in Lamu.
- Those in remote areas have to travel long distances to get the ARVs and its exhausting.
Persons living with HIV in Lamu have had a hard time trying to access their medication during the Covid-19 period.
At least 2,600 people live with the virus in the county, according to records at the County HIV/AIDS Prevalence and Infection office.
Those hardest hit are residents of remote villages who have now been forced to travel for hundreds of kilometres to a select few dispensaries that have stocked the antiretroviral drugs.
Their spokesperson Nancy Auma who has lived with HIV for 13 years revealed that it has been impossible for them to be consistent with their medication as most of the time, restocking the drugs when they run out has been an uphill task that takes weeks.
She said many patients missed taking the drugs for as long as they run out until they are able to restock.
Auma said most remote villages are located hundreds of kilometers away from clinics and that travelling to the facilities has been a challenge as many people are unable to cover the high cost of transport.
Those affected have called on the Ministry of Health to provide easy access to the ARVs in remote areas so that people do not miss out of their daily dosages and risk death.
They also appealed to the county government of Lamu to intervene and deliver the supply of ARVs to the patients' doorsteps as many are unable to leave their homes for fear of contracting coronavirus.
“We are among groups of people whose immunity has been compromised and so Covid-19 is enough bad news for us. We are doing all we can to stay safe and because of that some of us are afraid of traveling in search of medication when we run out of stock. Many of the clinics are in towns away from our villages and getting there is expensive for many of us. People are skipping their medication and its deadly. We need help,” Auma said.
Bernard Kinyanjui who has lived with the virus for over 20 years urged the Ministry of Health to consider giving them a three-month supply of ARVs instead of short-term dosages that run out fast, requiring them to keep frequenting the clinics for more.
“Some of us live is villages which require us to part with not less than Sh1,500 as transport to and from the clinics. We can’t afford that now that many of us are no longer working after we were laid off due to Covid-19. Let them give us several months' supply of ARVs during this period,” he said.
In response, County HIV/AIDS Prevalence and Infection Officer Fatma Bunu admitted that hundreds of patients in the region had not been consistent in picking up their supply of medication from various clinics and hospitals since the pandemic hit the country.
She also revealed that out of the known 2,838 HIV positive cases in Lamu, only 1,600 are on medication.
She said stigma and societal discrimination are among the reasons why hundreds of HIV positive individuals in the region had refused to disclose their status.
Mpeketoni area in Lamu West has the highest HIV prevalence and new infections with more than 500 HIV cases followed by Lamu island with over 300 cases. Witu and Hindi divisions have over 200 cases each.
Bunu urged the community to learn to accommodate persons living with HIV to enable more disclosures.
“Its true health systems have been overwhelmed since the Covid-19 outbreak which has shifted focus to other things and not HIV. We are aware of the challenges and are making plans to grant their request of giving them three months supply of the ARVs to reduce travelling expenses and such like,” she said.
Edited by Henry Makori