By Bernard Muthaka
A survey that will for the first time provide HIV prevalence&searchbutton=SEARCH'> national HIV prevalence figures for infants and children below 14 years comes to a close this month.
It will also be the first to establish the frequency among those aged between 50 and 65 years.
The two sets of age groups have previously been left out of HIV prevalence surveys and this year’s Kenya Aids Indicator Survey (Kais) is expected to give the most comprehensive picture of how Kenya’s has performed in its HIV/Aids campaign strategies.
The first Kais was held in 2007, with this year’s survey covering over 13,000 households selected from all counties in Kenya.
Home-based counseling
The survey includes administration of a household-level and individual questionnaire, as well as home-based counselling and testing.
Kais will provide the government of Kenya and the many organizations that support HIV/Aids programmes with information about how many people in Kenya are affected by HIV/Aids; the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours that affect a person’s risk of HIV infection; and the coverage of and unmet need for HIV prevention, care, and treatment services.
Results from the first Kais showed that the vast majority of HIV-infected persons did not know their HIV status, but also that most were willing to be tested in their homes.
This enabled the establishment and scale-up of provider-initiated and home-based counseling in Kenya.
The National Aids and STDs Control Programme (Nascop) is leading the survey, assisted by other technical organisations in various aspects of the survey.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics developed the sampling plan, conducted the household listing and selected the final household sample.
