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Preliminary Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS) results
showed that Kenya’s overall HIV prevalence dropped from 7.2 percent in 2007 to
5.6 percent in 2012. Peter Cherutich, head of prevention for Kenya’s National
AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Program, attributed the
prevalence decrease to more HIV-infected people receiving antiretroviral
therapy (ART). Early ART could reduce heterosexual HIV transmission by as much
as 96 percent, according to recent studies.
Officials feared that these gains would not be sustainable
unless Kenya reduced its reliance on donor funding. At present, more than 70
percent of HIV-infected Kenyans with a CD4 count of 350 or lower were on ART.
The HIV virus was undetectable for 80 percent of those, which meant there was
low risk of transmitting the virus.
Allan Ragi, executive director of the Kenya AIDS NGO
Consortium, attributed Kenya’s progress to the fact that government, donors,
civil society, and HIV-infected people had worked together at all levels to put
in place effective policies, messages, and interventions. Other HIV prevention
efforts included mother-to-child prevention, medical male circumcision, and
counseling and testing programs.
KAIS reported that approximately 1.2 million Kenyans had
HIV, and HIV prevalence varied by gender and region. Overall prevalence among
women was 6.9 percent, compared to 4.4 percent overall prevalence among men and
0.9 percent overall prevalence among children. The survey indicated
“substantial” drops in the Coast, Nairobi, and Rift Valley regions, but
recorded an overall prevalence increase in Nyanza region from 14.9 percent
prevalence in 2007 to 15.1 percent in 2012.
