Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has warned of an increase in HIV infections among young people.
Speaking during the launch of a mass Covid-19 vaccination drive in the Dagoretti sub-county, Kagwe said that the Ministry of Health had seen an increase in infections among youth between the ages of 25 to 35 years.
“We have seen a definite rise in infections among young people aged 25 to 35 and that is a very worrying trend,” he said.
This comes a week after a study was done by local researchers in Kisumu that found young graduates shy away from the HIV assisted partner notification service (aPNS).
“Kenyans with a diploma or degree are less likely to participate in HIV Assisted Partner Notification Services (aPNS),” the study said.
aPNS is a system that helps to trace and offer HIV testing to partners of HIV-positive individuals.
It is effective and safe when provided to newly diagnosed HIV-positive patients.
This makes the young people susceptible to getting infected as they have little information on how to stay safe when they have an infected partner.
Kagwe called on young people to practise abstinence as well as to use protection in order to prevent infection.
He also said that the ministry saw a decrease in the number of stomach problems among Kenyans in the last year.
“We attribute this decline to the cleanliness that Kenyans have had during this pandemic period as people have been washing their hands more often," he said.
He urged Kenyans to keep on washing their hands as often as possible, so as to stay healthier and thus reduce the costs spent on going to the hospital due to such illnesses.
