Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya recorded a drastic decline in the prevalence of communicable diseases between 2000 and 2013 even as non-communicable ones continue to wreak havoc.
Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia revealed that HIV/Aids prevalence declined from 13 per cent in 2000 to 5.6 per cent in 2013. The number of new cases of HIV, according to Macharia equally declined from 166,000 in 2000 to 91,000 in 2013.
“The rate of transmission of HIV from mother to child has also been on a steady decline even as we aim at achieving our national goal of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV to ensure a HIV free generation,” said Macharia yesterday while addressing members of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Despite the decline, Macharia said non-communicable and infectious diseases remain a burden. He said the polio virus found its way into the country last year, resulting in 14 cases but reiterated that Kenya is on the right track towards polio eradication.
He assured the global community that the Government has declared polio a public health emergency, saying his ministry has since conducted nine rounds of polio vaccination at national and sub-national levels.
“During the vaccination exercise, the immunisation targets were surpassed. We appreciate the support of partners including World Health Organisation, Unicef and Bill and Melinda Gates foundation during the recent polio outbreaks,” Macharia added.
The key issues being discussed in this year’s WHA summit include the post 2015 global health agenda and the health goals and targets that need to be set after the deadline of the current millennium development goals.
Also to be tabled for discussion is yellow fever vaccination, which, if adopted, will see the issuance of a lifetime vaccine as opposed to the current 10-year limit.
Macharia said Kenya is leading the African region in drafting 18 resolutions on the global vaccine plan, which will be tabled for consideration and possible adoption.
Those accompanying the CS in the summit include Health Principal Secretary Fred Sigor and members from the Parliamentary and Senate health committees led by James Nyikal and Mohamed Kuti.