- The Aids unit is unable to keep proper data because cops are frequently transferred and this may disrupt treatment.
- Those infected and who work in remote parts of the republic cannot access drugs easily to manage opportunistic infections, and they do not live with spouses to care for them.
They may appear strong in public service, but back in the police lines, many police officers newly-diagnosed with HIV are lonely and consumed with self-blame.
The Kenya Police Service Aids Control Unit (ACU) said this self-stigma and frequent transfers are the biggest challenges it faces in fighting new HIV infections among police officers.
On Tuesday, a representative from the unit said nearly eight per cent of all people tested for HIV last year in 12 police health facilities, were positive.
The unit tested 2,650 people for the virus and found 208 positive, who were all put on treatment. This number includes members of the public and police officers, but the exact number of the officers is not clear.
ACU programme officer Agnes Irungu said one of the biggest challenges police living with HIV face is stigma.
“The self-stigma among the police officers is too high,” Irungu said on Tuesday at the ongoing National Maisha HIV/Aids conference in Mombasa.
The meeting is organised by the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council and its partners.
Self-stigma is a well-known barrier to HIV management that can be overcome through counselling.
It is associated with negative judgements towards oneself resulting in feelings of worthlessness, shame and emotional distress.
Irungu said 1,273 people (both the public and officers) are currently receiving HIV treatment from the police health facilities.
However, she said they are unable to keep proper data of police officers because they are frequently transferred and sometimes this disrupts treatment.
“For police officers, because of migratory obligations, they are not able to stay in one place for long,” she said.
The Kenya Police Service has about 110,000 officers and past studies have placed the prevalence at about seven per cent, being double the prevalence in the general population.
“We also need to integrate HIV into other health programmes. We don’t have direct donor funding we rely on implementing partners but we have a line budget,” Irungu said.
“We’ve already begun constituting a resource mobilisation committee.”
Several studies recognise police officers are vulnerable to infections because they spend lengthy periods away from home.
As a result, some officers are tempted to look for ways to relieve loneliness, boredom, stress and the build-up of sexual tension.
The urge to relieve loneliness is also brought about by the lack of adequate housing where officers do not bring spouses to live with them. Moreover, many officers are in the high-risk age group for HIV infection, which is 25 to 35 years.
Irungu also mentioned last year, 3,533 people were screened for sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia in the police health facilities.
“We identified 324 people who were linked to treatment,” she said.
She said the NPS has cops trained in health services but they are often assigned to do security rather than health duties.
"We need a scheme of service for health workers so they don’t need to keep transitioning to core police work. They also don’t receive non-practising allowances," she said.
Dr Duncan Ochieng, an assistant Inspector General of Police, in 2014 carried out a study that placed HIV prevalence rate in the police service between at six to 14 per cent.
“However, this could even be higher given that many officers (27 per cent in that study) have not tested themselves for HIV. This corroborates data from key informants’ interview which indicates that the HIV prevalence rate in the KPS ranges between six per cent and 14 per cent with the likelihood of being even higher,” he said.
Dr Ochieng is also the director National Disaster Management Unit in the National Police Service.
His study, titled “Prevalence of HIV and Aids in the Kenya Police Service”, was published in the International Journal of Disaster Management and Risk Reduction.
He said those infected and who work in remote parts of the republic cannot access drugs easily to manage opportunistic infections, and they do not live with spouses to care for them.
“The notion that HIV and Aids can pose a threat to the nation’s internal security has not been a shared view over the course of the pandemic. The vast majority of people living with HIV and Aids are aged between 18 to 45 years and are in their working lives and most police officers (87 per cent) are in this range,” Dr Ochieng said.
He also noted continuous travel away from duty station usually tempts many officers into casual sexual relationships.
“For those infected the sanitation and hygiene in the police lines constitute a problem in the management of the virus,” he said.
Nationally, HIV prevalence is about HIV prevalence in at 3.7 per cent, being highest among females at 5.3 per cent and 2.6 per cent in men, according to the NSDCC data released at the Maisha conference.
The number of new HIV infections in the country dropped from 34,540 to 22,154 in 2022, the data showed.
NSDCC CEO Ruth Masha also noted Kenya achieved a 68 per cent reduction in Aids-related fatalities, since the initiation of Kenya's comprehensive Antiretroviral drugs programme in 2013.
People living with HIV usually have a normal life expectancy if they adhere to treatment.
“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,” Dr Masha said.