Married couples leading in new HIV infections

Married couples account for the highest number of new HIV infections, a new report shows.

As a result, a majority of children born with the virus do not live to see their adulthood as out of the 11,000 children infected annually, 11,000 of the annual deaths occur among the children.

The Kenya Aids Strategic Framework attributed the high prevalence (44 per cent) among married people to unfaithfulness.

Casual sex among unmarried couples came second at 20 per cent, with the category of men practising homosexuality contributing 15 per cent of the new infections.

Sex workers account for 14 per cent and people who inject drugs 3.8 per cent. "Prevention is lagging behind. There has only been a nine per cent decline in new HIV infections among adults in the last five years," says the study.

Homa Bay (25 per cent), Siaya (23), Kisumu (19) and Migori (14) are some of the counties with the highest prevalence, contributing to the 65 per cent of the 100,000 new infections.