• NACC says currently, the rising transmission among children due to defilement cases is worrying.
•The gender disparity in the burden of HIV is even greater than three times between the ages of 20-34 years.
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Kenya will increase focus on girls and young women in its bid to end the HIV-Aids epidemic by 2030.
While the prevalence of HIV is higher in boys than girls from birth up to 14 years, it doubles in girls from 15 years when many become sexually active.
The burden in young women is even greater than three times between the ages of 20-34 years.
The National Aids Control Council says among children aged 0-14 the virus is mainly transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.
Nacc says after breastfeeding, defilement is the main mode of transmission in children, a situation that is worrying.
“In 2019, programme data showed that 20,362 children aged 10-14 were pregnant,” NACC says in the Kenya Aids Strategic Framework 2020/21-2024/25, which is being rolled out.
“There is need to target locations with high teenage pregnancies as a proxy-indicator of heightened risk of HIV infections among girls,” the plan says.
The Kenya Health Information System (KHIS) shows about 28 per cent of all pregnancies registered in the country are among adolescents aged 10-19.
The strategy notes that women and girls remain disproportionately affected by poverty, violence and injustice that make them vulnerable to HIV.
“KASF II will prioritise efforts that build synergies with other development agendas that seek to empower women and girls, thus reducing their vulnerability to HIV,” it says.
NACC director Ruth Laibon-Masha said the strategy is being implemented in collaboration with different stakeholders.
“KASF II draws from recommendations based on lived experiences, epidemic analyses and previous programme implementation,” she said.
Last year, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said Kenya has significantly reduced new HIV infections and Aids-related deaths since the first case in 1984.
Since then, about two million people in Kenya have lost their lives due to Aids-related deaths.
At the peak of the epidemic in the mid-1990s, HIV caused a decline in life expectancy by about 12 years and led to an increase in child mortality by 20 per cent.
“To sustain the national response to HIV, KASF II outlines the need for innovative approaches to secure domestic resources, including through a ring-fenced fund,” he said.
While tackling teenage pregnancy, Kenya is also expected to improve antiretroviral therapy in children.
“The success of ART treatment programmes among children (0-14 years) is largely dependent on early diagnosis and prompt ART initiation,” the new framework says.
HIV treatment for babies nosedived last year due to a rampant shortage of HIV test kits for infants and ARVs.
In November, Kagwe said kits to test HIV in infants would be available by January 2022.
The diagnostic kits have been unavailable for the last 11 months now.
“The Ministry of Health has been closely monitoring the global supply chain of all HIV commodities to ensure there are no stock-outs, while exploring alternative viral load and early infant testing platforms,” he said.
These challenges might affect the rollout of the new framework.
The new framework aims to reduce new HIV infections by 75 per cent and cut Aids-related mortality by 50 per cent.
It also aims to increase domestic financing for the HIV response to 50 per cent.
According to the Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment 2018 survey, Kenya’s HIV prevalence now stands at 4.9 per cent.
The prevalence in women is at 6.6 per cent, twice that in men at 3.1 per cent.
Edited by A.N