New alert to alarming AIDS figures

Over 87,000 reported AIDS cases in Kenya in the past five years are “only the tip of the pyramid” and the estimated number of Kenyans with AIDS is over 700,000, according to a new report by the National AIDS and Socially Transmitted Diseases Control Programme (NASCOP). In addition, about 1.9 million adults and some 90,000 children are infected with the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, almost all of whom would develop AIDS and die within the next 10 years or so, the report stated. The adult prevalence of HIV - those between 15 and 49 years who are infected - was estimated in 1998 at 13.9 percent, but stood at 10 to 18 percent in urban areas, with some 430,000 adults infected. HIV prevalence in rural areas was also rising rapidly and stood at about 13 percent in 1998, indicating that there were some 1.4 million HIV-infected adults in rural areas, NASCOP stated in its report, ‘AIDS in Kenya’. “The majority of infections are transmitted through heterosexual contact,” it added. More than 75 percent of AIDS deaths occur in the adult population between the ages of 20 and 45, and “since this is the most economically productive part of the population, these deaths constitute an important economic burden” in addition to a human catastrophe, NASCOP reported. “AIDS has the potential to create severe economic impacts for Kenya” at both the macro-and microeconomic levels, the report said. AIDS cut the size and experience of the labour force, increased health expenditure and diverted it from other areas of need, raised the cost of labour, reduced savings, investment and agricultural output, and reduced the potential impact of education spending. Prevention through behaviour change among population groups that have most sexual partners, condom promotion and STD treatment was many times more cost-effective than either providing hospital treatment for AIDS patients or trying to prevent the spread of the virus with expensive retro-viral treatment, the report said. However, prevention efforts needed strong political will, adoption of a multi-sectoral approach with substantially increased funding, and the introduction of AIDS education into school curricula. “Only a much-expanded prevention programme, with participation from all sectors (government, NGO, private sector, religious groups, churches, professional organisations, community groups) will be successful in reducing the number of infected people in the future,” the report added.