Uganda beats Kenya on HIV research, analysis shows

Researchers in Uganda have beaten Kenyans in generating new knowledge on HIV, since the virus was reported in Africa, a new analysis has shown.

The country, which has a HIV burden of 6.2 per cent, has East Africa’s highest research output and the second highest in Africa.

Kenya has an adult prevalence of about 4.5 per cent, but is home to some of the continent’s top research institutions.

The top African country in research output is South Africa (26,907 published papers), followed by Uganda (7,045 papers), Kenya (6,118), and Nigeria (4,254). The four countries account for 54 per cent of the total indexed publications on HIV from Africa.

The analysis, titled ‘HIV Research Output in African Countries between 1986-2020’ has been published in the PLOS Global Public Health.

The authors searched the PubMed database in June 2021 to obtain the HIV research output by volume of each African country over a 35-year period (from January 1986 to December 2020).

PubMed is the most widely used and optimal electronic database for biomedical research, they said.

“Countries with the largest people living with HIV populations had higher research output compared to countries with the smallest PLWHIV numbers,” the authors said.

They said research findings must be published to contribute to the body of knowledge.

The analysis indicates South Africa accounts for 33.2 per cent of all published work on HIV in Africa, followed by Uganda (8.4 per cent), Kenya (7.3 per cent) and Nigeria (5.1 per cent).

Despite this laudable output, the authors said it is not comparable to the continent’s burden of HIV.

Noteworthy, it accounts for less than half of the global publications on HIV, yet two thirds of all people living with HIV are in Africa.

“Notably, in 2020, Africa accounted for 31 per cent of global HIV research publications. Although this is markedly higher than Africa’s total contribution to global health research, this is relatively low for a continent with the highest burden of HIV infections,” they said.

One co-author of the study, Mukhtar A Ijaiya of Johns Hopkins Programme for International Education in Gynaecology and Obstetrics,  blamed limited funding available for research in Africa.

“Competing priorities and challenges in the education sector, often result in insufficient financial resources allocated to research,” he said in an interview with University World News.

“Interestingly, our findings highlight a notable spike in research output coinciding with the commencement of funding from the Global Fund and PEPFAR (the United States’ President’s Emergency Plan for Aids relief) for HIV/Aids interventions in Africa."

"This underscores the positive impact that increased funding can have on research endeavours related to HIV/Aids on the continent,” Ijaiya said.

According to the Ministry of Health, the HIV incidence in Kenya has been reducing.

Analysis of latest data from the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council last year showed 13 counties have cut new HIV infections by nearly half in one year.

Mombasa, which reduced new infections by 52 per cent between 2021 and 2022, led the pack.

Nationally, new infections reduced by 78 per cent from 101,448 in 2013 to 22,154 in 2022.

“Kenya has also seen a substantial decline in new HIV cases, further complemented by the expansion of access to ART medicine. Approximately 1.2 million individuals have been accessing treatment since 2013,” NSDCC boss Dr Ruth Laibon-Masha said late last year.

She said as part of the government's vision to eradicate Aids by 2030, Kenya is committed to provide comprehensive treatment.

The country will also allow individuals living with HIV to lead full, quality lives akin to managing chronic illnesses.

"As a country, some of the milestones we have had is because we have remained at the centre of scientific advancement. No HIV research has been done without experts from Kenya's  contribution, both at the national and international levels," she said.

Reducing new infections is critical to ending HIV as an epidemic.

It also saves money because maintaining one HIV-positive person on ARVs for one year currently costs Sh24,000 according to NSDCC.

The drugs must be taken for life because HIV has no cure. In the absence of treatment, people with Aids typically survive for about three years.