Last weekend, the world celebrated World AIDS day on December 1. In most parts of the country, many were celebrating the successes made globally and nationally to bring infections and effects of the disease down to manageable levels.
There has been general success in fighting the HIV-Aids pandemic. The first case of HIV in Kenya was detected in 1984 and by the mid 1990s, the prevalence rate of the country was reported to be 10.9 per cent. This meant that more than one of every 10 people in the country was HIV positive. Government efforts, including by the National Aids Control Council (NACC) have reversed this trend and almost halved the prevalence rate. Currently the prevalence rate of the country is reported to be 5.9 per cent.
While this is a cause for celebration, it is disturbing to note that at present there is high number of new HIV infections amongst teenagers in the country and in particular key counties in different parts, including Nyanza, Western, Nairobi and Coast. It has become apparent that new infections are reported mainly in teenagers and youth between 16 to 25 years. A National AIDS Control Council
report gave the number of new infections amongst adolescents and young persons in Kenya to be 47 every day!
In Migori for example, the report says that eight Homa Bay county teens contract HIV every day! The same report said that in Kisumu, 4,996 youths and adolescents contracted HIV in one year, which translates to 13 teens every day. In Kilifi county, it is reported that almost 20 per cent of all new infections are of teenagers. These are alarming statistics that ought to be addressed urgently by all national and county officials in order to save the youth, specifically and generally the future of our nation.
According to officials, HIV infections are brought about by increase in immoral behaviours reported amongst teenagers coupled with unprotected sex. This is further exacerbated by sexual violence, including incest where teenagers are defiled and raped, coercion by peers into early sex and lack of information amongst teenagers on HIV-Aids, which renders them vulnerable. According to available information, about 20 per cent of young people get into sexual activities before their 15th birthday.
At the Coast and Nyanza, for example, disco matangas and disco vumbis in major towns have been highlighted as major breeding grounds where teenagers remain unsupervised and easily engage in illicit behavior, including drug use and unprotected sex. Boda boda riders have also been accused of hoodwinking young girls into early sex. Despite health authorities making available condoms to the youth, due to drug and alcohol abuse, they end up not using condoms, spreading HIV-Aids amongst themselves.
Information has also confirmed that the majority of the youth who are infected are not aware of their status and by continuing to engage in unsafe sex, they spread the infection unknowingly. Further, recent reports reveal that activities of homosexuals have increased the rates of infection, with almost a third of the homosexuals population reported to be HIV positive.
Haki Africa is therefore calling for urgent measures to save the teenagers from this scourge. It is already disheartening to lose the young generation to drugs, crime and extra-judicial killings. To learn that they are now also getting infected at alarming rates is a big blow to the future of our country. As an organisation, Haki Africa is calling on the national and county governments to immediately initiate programmes targeting the youth to protect them from new infections. The current crop of teenagers was not reached by the massive HIV-Aids awareness that was carried out in the 1990 and 2000s. They, therefore, must be reached in order to save them from getting infected.
Health is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 43 of the Constitution. The right to healthcare includes preventing infections and it is the responsibility of the national and the county governments to defend the teenagers from practices that put them at risk of their health. As Kenyans, we also have a duty to save the younger generation from the scourge. Parents, teachers, religious leaders and all must work together to save our teenagers.