How to reduce rising HIV infection rates

The theme for World AIDS Day 2016 is Hands Up for #HIVPrevention. This theme could not have come at a better time for Kenya. In July this year, a study by Global Burden of Disease collaborative network published in The Lancet HIV showed that Kenya has experienced a dramatic rise in HIV infection in the last decade.

Between 2005 and 2015, the number of new HIV cases rose by an average of 7 per cent per year, one of the highest increases in the world. The study showed that the number of new HIV infections in Kenya is rising faster than in any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts attributed this to complacency that has taken root in the fight against the pandemic in Kenya, following years of successes in fighting the scourge.

“In the early 1990s everyone knew what HIV was all about because they were investing significantly in marketing testing and counselling,” said Nduku Kilonzo, the Director of the National Aids Control Council (NACC) during the launch of the report in July.

She added, “We must fund HIV prevention, care and treatment. Currently, there is no government budget for the same. We need to put systems in place and not just rely on projects”.

Most HIV/AIDS patients who have contacted our organization (Psychiatric Disability Organization) for psychological support complain that there are long queues at drugs collection centres, lack of privacy, poor morale of staff operating some centres, and lack of individualized attention particularly on psychological support.

Some centres are overwhelmed and are turning into factory like treadmills whose focus is on numbers, probably to meet the donors’ statistical targets, rather than meeting the patients’ holistic needs.

HIV activists blame the lack of thorough psychosocial support in the form of adherence counseling, and proper education of how to live positively with the virus as the main reason behind withdrawal and misuse of the drugs.

On the other hand, ART drugs are known to cause many side effects including depression, diarrhea, lipoatrophy, lipohypertrophy, etc. Many people on ART who come seeking psychosocial support in our organization complain of inadequate or complete lack of satisfactory counseling during their visits to the HIV/AIDS clinics.

Some of them claim to have been put on treatment before receiving thorough pre-test and post-test counseling. Sadly, they come to know the side effects of the drugs after their bodies start reacting to the drugs.

The fact that they have to live with them for the rest of their lives is a reality they are poorly equipped to handle psychologically, leading to poor adherence to the ART.

Researchers have cited several reasons why patients withdraw from ART treatment. These includes; drugs side effects, lack of proper counseling before and after enlisting, substance abuse, lack of privacy (stigma) and drugs collection centres and lack of knowledge on the consequences of stopping ART.

For example, studies have shown that up to 20% of people taking efavirenz change treatment in the first year because of these side effects.

Psychiatric Disability Organization and our partners will continue to offer psychosocial support to people living with HIV/AIDS as a strategy of reducing rising infection rate and restoring psychological wellbeing of those infected or affected.

The most accessible tool that we are using to give psychosocial support to PLHIV is the recently launched TrustCircle mHealth App, which the government can scale up to make sure people receive necessary support at no cost. This free mobile phone App is available to Android users on Google Play Store.

Any patient or caregiver can download the App and sign in anonymously to access a rich community of local and global peers, psychiatrist, psychologist and caregivers.

The Author is mental health and child rights advocate and the Founder/CEO of Psychiatric Disability Organization. He can be reached on: [email protected] Website: http://www.pdokenya.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Psychiatricdisability/