Study in Nyanza to assess progress of war against HIV/Aids

By Maureen Odiwuor

The National Aids Control Council (Nacc) and the World Bank will conduct a research to find out why HIV and Aids prevalence in Nyanza remains high despite several interventions.

Nacc Director Alloys Orago revealed that Sh4.5 billion will be spent on the one-year survey to determine the progress of the prevention campaigns since 2008.

Orago said the study will be carried out in five districts in Nyanza Province. The province has an HIV and Aids prevalence rate of 13.9 per cent compared to the national rate of 6.2 per cent.

The districts where the end-line survey has been launched are Kisumu East, Bondo, Rarieda, Ndhiwa and Homa Bay.

The director said these districts were selected due to the high incidence of HIV and Aids, which rises as one advances towards the beaches along the shores of Lake Victoria.

Sex workers

“Along the shores of the lake, HIV prevalence stands at 26 per cent, which is increased by commercial sex workers and slums,” he disclosed.

He said the survey will focus on the education sector, hence they will largely involve the Provincial Administration to reach youths of ages 15-24. The World Bank, said Orago, provided Sh11.34 billion for a period of five years ending in 2013 to scale up HIV and Aids prevention in the country. The money was disbursed to 280 constituencies (the old and new ones).

“Now that we have about a year to go before the finalisation of the project, we want to find out through research whether the money has achieved the intended result,” he said. Orago said the rate of new infections was still high with 91,000 adults and about 19,000 children getting infected annually.

New infections

However, despite the grim picture, the figures have reduced compared to 2008 when 133,000 new infections were reported.

Orago attributed the reduction to increased use of condoms and revealed that Nacc distributes 20 million male and 1.7 million female condoms to help in the fight against the scourge.

He revealed that within that period over 8,000 implementers were trained to a tune of Sh2.9 billion.

Orago, however, said that despite a number of challenges, they have made several achievements. For instance, over 540,000 people have been put on ARVs.