- According to the ministry, the number of individuals on anti-retroviral treatment has nearly doubled from 656,369 in 2013 to 1,294,339 in 2022.
- Close to 82,000 people living with HIV had not yet commenced long-term Anti-retroviral treatment by 2022.
Image: FILE
The slow pace in curtailing new HIV infections among children and adolescents remains a great concern to the Ministry of Health.
This is despite the progress the country has made in reducing new infections by 78 percent from 101,500 cases in 2012 to approximately 22,154 cases in 2022.
Globally, Kenya bears the 7th highest burden of HIV with approximately 1.4 million individuals living with the virus.
PS for Medical Services Harry Kimtai on Tuesday said it is a great concern that an average of 141 new HIV infections were reported among adolescents and young adults aged 15-24 every week in 2022 alone.
The PS spoke during the official opening of Maisha conference in Mombasa.
Kimtai further said that despite progress, the persistence of HIV-related stigma continues to be a pressing concern.
According to the ministry, the number of individuals on anti-retroviral treatment has nearly doubled from 656,369 in 2013 to 1,294,339 in 2022.
“We take pride in the wide scale availability of more patient friendly medications such as Dolutegravir (DTG) which have yielded superior treatment outcomes,” the PS said.
He noted that the availability of patient-friendly medications have led to the overall viral suppression among the 1,294,339 individuals under anti-retroviral treatment by 89 per cent in 2022.
However, close to 82,000 people living with HIV had not yet commenced long-term Anti-retroviral treatment by 2022 while the rates of mother-to-child HIV transmission remained alarmingly high at 8.3 percent.
“It is our duty to persist in our pursuit of innovative interventions to eliminate Aids as a public health threat in Kenya,” the PS said.
He added: “While AIDS-related deaths are on a downward trajectory, the loss of lives remains unacceptable. The decline in HIV-specific funding from external sources is a trend that is being observed.”
Kenya is ranked as the second African nation to adopt and successfully implement Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) programme for HIV prevention.
The programme has achieved a noteworthy 64 percent uptake among all eligible individuals by the end of 2022.