• NACC says spread of virus among the youth in the county is alarming
• Agency has developed a programme to educate riders on prevention and treatment
Boda boda riders have been identified as contributing to the spread of HIV-Aids in Homa Bay county.
The riders are ranked among groups at the highest risk of contracting and transmitting the virus, according to the Home Bay Multisectoral AIDS strategic Plan 2014-15 and 2018-19.
The National AIDS Control Council has developed a programme to educate the riders on prevention and available medication.
Homa Bay and Migori counties NACC coordinator Steve Amollo says the spread of the virus among the youth in the county is alarming.
Prevalence in Homa Bay has dropped from 27 to 20.7 per cent but there is still need to run a vigorous campaign among the youth.
“Most of the boda boda operators are in the 15-24 age bracket and according to the Kenya HIV County Profiles 2018. They contribute to the national estimates by 10.3 per cent among the youths living with HIV," Amollo said.
He added that this might also contribute to new infections due to the nature of their work and the money they get daily.
“The boda boda riders are at a high risk of contracting HIV-Aids due to the nature of their work, the people they interact with of all classes, who include schoolgirls, working class, commercial sex workers and even widows in the course of their work," said Amollo.
“These are the people some parents entrust with taking their daughters to school but due to poverty in our region they might actually lure the young girls into sex without protection," Amollo said.
He further said they want to reach each boda boda operator through their leaders so that they can be informed on available ways of engaging in safe sex and ways of living positively and healthy after being infected.
“Most of the operators do not have enough time to access information on HIV-Aids, ”he said.
“We still need this generation to help drive our economy since they are the future leaders,” Amollo said.
National boda boda secretary general Ken Onyango said the sector has in the past been blamed for the rising cases of HIV and pregnancy among the school girls, a problem that must be tamed.