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HIV and Aids interventions targeting the youth might be misplaced, leading to high infection rates and deaths in the demographic, a global health body has revealed.
World Health Organisation (WHO) officer in charge of HIV/Aids treatment in Africa Frank Lule noted that Aids was still the number one killer among adolescents, despite efforts put in place to bring down the numbers.
“Our studies have shown that only three out of 10 young people have comprehensive knowledge about HIV,” said Dr Lule at the launch of a social media campaign in Nairobi that targets youth and adolescents ahead of this year’s December 1 World Aids Day.
He said the age group of 15 to 24 contribute up to 40 per cent of new HIV infections. Lule said while 70 per cent of adolescents acquire the virus through Mother-to-Child Transmission, 30 per cent was through human contacts.
He said one of the major interventions to reduce these numbers has been awareness. However, it appears that the information either does not reach the young generation or it is not packaged in a way to appeal to them.
He argued that the reason behind this is because most of the policies and plans made on HIV are not made by the youth, but older people who do not quite understand this demographic.
Doreen Moraa, 27, born with HIV and is living positively is one of the Kenyans spearheading new WHO initiated campaign dubbed #TheTeaOnHIV.
“Young people are on the internet, googling signs and symptoms of HIV, and you find people reaching out on how they can start treatment after diagnosing themselves, yet they have not been tested,” she said.
Numbers given by the National Aids and STI Control Programme (Nascop) indicate that there are 184,700 people between ages 15 and 24 who are living with HIV.
Extremely high
Catherine Ngugi, head of Nascop, said the burden of HIV is extremely high among adolescents and young people. She said the Nascop 2018 estimates show that 105,230 adolescents between 10-19 years are living with HIV.
“This is approximately an equivalent of 80 students in public high schools. In addition, 184,700 young adults (15-24) are living with HIV,” she said.
The data also indicates that adolescents account for one in every 10 Aids-related deaths.
Dr Ngugi said the high numbers are as a result of unprotected sex, drug and alcohol abuse.
“Others include forced sex and sexual violence which increase young people’s vulnerability to HIV,” she said.
Young women are more at risk, she said, as they are three times more likely to be exposed to sexual violence than men.
“It is estimated that three out of 10 girls in Kenya have been raped by the time they reach 18,” said Ngugi.
She said there is a lot of stigma especially in schools, which is a big challenge when tackling HIV among young persons.
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