Release of latest HIV/AIDS statistics urged

Kenya's First Lady Lucy Kibaki has called for the release of the most up to date figures on HIV/AIDS-related deaths. Speaking recently at Egerton University in Njoro, Kibaki expressed concern that the country's daily casualty figure had remained at 700 for the last two years. Local newspaper, The East African Standard, quoted Kibaki as saying: "The current figure shows that 700 people die daily from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. This means that 29 people die every hour. We need to know whether this has changed in the past two years." The First Lady challenged local organisations involved in tackling the HIV/AIDS crisis to assist in conducting the necessary research to obtain current and more accurate statistics.