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Nairobi, Nakuru and Siaya were the leading counties in new HIV infections in 2018, latest statistics have shown.
The three counties, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), were also among regions with high number of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) over the same period.
According to the statistics, there were 29,482 new cases of HIV reported across hospitals in the country as captured in the December 2019 report.
Of these, 5,382 were recorded in Nairobi where 252 were children below five years. In this category, Nairobi was followed by Kisumu with 68, Siaya (50) and Nakuru (40).
It is only in Elgeyo Marakwet where there was one case of an under five diagnosed with HIV.
Across the country, there were 1,384 new cases of under-five with HIV.
An update by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (Unaids) released on World Aids Day on December 1, 2019 shows that access to antiretroviral (ARV) among pregnant women prevented up to 11,000 new HIV infections in 2018, in Kenya.
As a result, the estimated number of new HIV infections in 2018 as released by Unaids stood at 46,000 in the general population.
In the KNBS report, for those above five years, Siaya recorded 2,280 new cases followed by Nakuru (2,180), Kisumu (1,922), Migori (1,882) and Kiambu (1,021).
Wajir and Mandera had the least cases for those above five years with 11 each.
An analysis by The Standard shows counties with high number of new HIV cases also featured among those with more people treated for STIs.
Both HIV and STIs are largely transmitted through sexual intercourse.
Aged five
For example, in Nairobi, there were 39,800 cases of STIs against 5,130 new cases of HIV for those five years and above.
Nakuru came second with 17,582 STI cases against 2,108 for HIV followed by Kilifi with 14,922 STI cases against 301 for HIV.
There were 13,484 STI cases reported in Kiambu where the new HIV cases were 1,021. In Kakamega, the number of STI cases was 13,109 against 774 new HIV diagnoses, and 9,064 STI cases in Uasin Gishu against 612 new HIV cases.
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