Globally, 30 teenagers aged 15-19 get newly infected with HIV per hour (UNICEF, 2018) while the burden of HIV is greater among the 15-24 age group.
Four million of them live with HIV (UNAIDS,2014).
AIDS is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among adolescents in the world (WHO 2014) with sub-Saharan Africa contributing more than two-thirds of all HIV related adolescent deaths.
Kenya has the fourth-largest HIV epidemic in the world with 1.6 million people living with HIV(Kenya Aids Response Progress Report 2016).
Young people aged 15-24 years contributed 55 per cent of all new HIV infections.
However, Kenya is a global trendsetter in HIV prevention with the adoption of new interventions and technologies such as prep and HIV self-test.
Access to treatment for people with HIV continues to rise, with 75 per cent of adults living with HIV accessing treatment in 2018(UNAIDS 2018).
A large number of sexually acquired HIV infections among women has given rise to substantial transmission to newborns, with an estimated 12,894 children in Kenya becoming newly infected in 2011 (NACC and NASCOP, 2019).
The annual number of new infections among children aged between 0 and 14 years is 12,511, while for those above 14, but under 25 years is 13,148 (NACC, 2019).
An estimated 677,000 or 5.1 per cent of the total number of adults and adolescents living with HIV and AIDS are living in the rural areas compared with an estimated 515,000 or 6.5 per cent of adults and adolescents in urban areas.
Women are more likely to be infected (6.9 per cent) than men (4.4 per cent) and also have higher HIV prevalence than men in both rural and urban residences.
HIV prevalence among women in urban areas is 8.0 per cent compared with 6.2 per cent in rural areas.
Among men, the prevalence is 5.1 per cent in urban areas compared with 3.9 per cent in rural areas.
Though the prevalence of HIV infection is lower in rural areas compared to urban areas, the number of infections is greater in rural than urban areas, given that the majority of Kenyans approximately six out of ten persons in the country reside in rural areas.
HIV prevalence differs significantly across age groups in both rural and urban areas.
In rural areas, peak prevalence occurs among adults aged 45–49 years at 9.4 per cent while in urban areas, HIV prevalence peaked among adults aged 35–39 years at 11.8 per cent.
For both rural and urban areas, the lowest prevalence occurs among the youth aged 15–19 years and the distribution is 0.5 per cent rural and 2.2 per cent urban, respectively (NASCOP, 2019).
However, HIV prevalence is consistently higher among women than men in all regions.
For women, Nyanza has the highest HIV prevalence at 16.1 per cent, and Nairobi and Coast regions have the second-highest at 6.1 per cent.
North Eastern and North-Rift regions have 23 the lowest HIV prevalence among women at 3.6 per cent each.
For men, Nyanza has the highest HIV prevalence at 13.9 per cent, Nairobi has the second-highest at 3.8 per cent, while North Eastern has the lowest at 0.8 per cent.
However, there are large differences across regions in the estimated number of HIV-infected adults and adolescents.
Antiretroviral therapy is seen as the first successful intervention in the fight against HIV. This therapy entails the administration of antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs, counselling, prophylaxis and treatment of opportunistic infections and nutrition.
The Kenya AIDS strategic framework for the period 2014/2015-2018/2019 aims to reduce new infections by 75 per cent, AIDS-related deaths by 25 per cent and stigma and discrimination by 50 per cent by 2019.
Antiretroviral therapy services were first introduced into the public sector in Kenya in 2003 with only less than 10 health facilities providing treatment.
These services were first started in five pilot public health facilities in August 2003 including Nyeri, New Nyanza, Rift Valley and Coast Provincial General Hospital and Kenyatta National Referral Hospital.
The number of facilities administering antiretroviral therapy increased from 731 in 2015 to 1,171 by early 2017.
Let's invest in our next generation to curb the rise in HIV infections.
CEO at Epic Youth Organization
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
