A Kenyan community-based HIV testing and counseling project has said 60.4 women and 45.2 per cent men know their HIV status and the country’s rate of new infection is 166,000 people per year.
The Know Your Status (KYS) project says 22,436 people tested positive with 84 per cent linked to care and treatment.
56,971 girls were reached through the project, and 1.7 percent turned out to be positive. 22, 000 men were said to have sex with men and female sex workers recorded 8.2 percent with 84 percent of them linked to care and treatment.
The KYS project by LVCT Health recorded that 5577 truck drivers were positive. 52169 couples were tested, of which 3 percent were identified to be HIV discordant relationships.
Head of NASCOP Martin Sirengo said, “Kenyan girls and young women are at a significantly high risk of HIV infections.” He added, ”Young teenagers and young women are most affected and the war on HIV can only be won if county government take HIV respond program.”
Through KYS project, LVCT health, championed and implemented evidence-informed behavioral interventions, reaching over 35,000 beneficiaries and in 2015 implemented Determined Resilient Empowered Aids-free Mentored Girls Initiative (DREAM).
“I have learnt to love myself and respect others. I renounced my old habits of sleeping with men in exchange for money and this makes me feel a lot better about myself as this was not something I enjoyed doing,” Dream Girl Grace lauded the initiative.
The project was implemented in Kisumu, Nairobi, Machakos, Makueni and Kitui focusing on geographical areas and populations higher than average preference in line with Kenya HIV Prevention Revolution Road Map, and finding of the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey 2012.
KYS project specifically aims to reach vulnerable and key populations including children, adolescents, youth, young women, couple and family, persons with disability, men who have sex with men, female sex workers, truckers, and people living with HIV.
To get to these people, used VCT site, Mobile HIV testing, and counseling, home-based HIV testing and counseling, workplace HIV testing, and counseling outreach.
Through this project, LVCT health contributed to 820, 453 Kenyans know their HIV status and was implemented between 2010-2016.
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