Nairobi, Kenya, January 18 (IPS) – The ominous warning came in 2019 via an anonymous message on her mobile phone to stay away from a man she met on social media.
When she was 18 years old and just graduated from high school, * Nicole Kisi was in a relationship with a 45 year old businessman.
“The message was clear. It says to be careful as there are rumors that the man’s wife died of HIV/Aids. I was socked. I forwarded the message to my boyfriend and he told me the person was jealous of him because he was successful,” she told IPS.
“He looks healthy to me, and I believe that message came from one of those envious people.”
A year after the relationship, Kisi was in and out of the hospital. At first, she was treated for severe malaria, but her condition only got worse. Finally, her HIV-positive status was discovered.
As with other sub-Saharan African countries, government data shows that AIDS is the leading cause of death and morbidity among adolescents and young adults in Kenya.
Over the past decade, Africa’s fight against HIV has seen a 43% drop in new HIV infections and a nearly halving of AIDS deaths.
However, the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that the continent is not on track to end AIDS by 2030 because key elimination milestones have not been reached.
“There are 18,004 new infections and 2,797 deaths among 10-19 year olds every year in Kenya. Damaris Owuor, an HIV activist based in Nairobi, said: “Overall, 40% of new HIV infections in the country are among teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 24.
“Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) has been very successful, and so we are very concerned about the risk of HIV transmission that our young people today face through having sex through sex. generation.”
Elisha Arunga Odoyo, a clinician in the PMTCT program at Homabay County Referral Hospital, says more than 90% of HIV infections in children are caused by mother-to-child transmission.
UNAIDS data show that East and South Africa have significantly reduced this risk. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of new HIV infections among children aged 0-14 fell from 1.1 million to 84,000 across the region.
Odoyo points to Homabay County of Kenya. Despite having the highest HIV prevalence in Kenya at 20.7%, more than four times the national rate of 4.8%, mother-to-child HIV transmission has decreased from 16.8% in 2015 to 9.1% in 2019.
Owuor says poor reproductive health and sex education and lack of access to adolescent-friendly reproductive health services are the main causes.
Furthermore, UNICEF research reveals trade and gender disparities in age, peer pressure, stigma and discrimination, harmful social and gender norms, and disgruntled power dynamics Equality contributes significantly to the growing number of adolescents living with HIV.
The most recent Kenya Demographic and Health Survey found that 3 in 10 girls had sex before the age of 15, and 1 in 5 girls aged 15 to 19 are pregnant or have had sex. mom.
However, Owuor told IPS that important steps are needed to address the risk of HIV infection among adolescents. Six out of every seven girls are new HIV infections among adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.
“My friends and I worry more about pregnancy than HIV. When you’re young, you think of HIV as something that happens to older people. None of my friends ever bought condoms, but we bought P2 (morning pill) so many times because of the fear of getting pregnant,” she told IPS.
UNAIDS research shows that adolescents and mothers are still disproportionately affected by HIV and left behind in the global AIDS response.
In this context, Owuor warns that the youth bloat could dramatically increase new HIV infections without a targeted approach to increasing access to HIV prevention, HIV testing, and HIV prevention. , care and treatment in adolescents and young adults.
To achieve the global goal of ending AIDS by 2030, an analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that by 2025, 95% of all people living with HIV will know their status, 95% of those living with HIV will know their status. know their condition is being treated, and 95% of those on treatment have a suppressed viral load.
In Africa, 87% of people with HIV know their status. Of those, 77% are on treatment and 68% have a low viral load, according to statistics released in December 2021.
Only nine countries, including Kenya, Botswana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, are on track to meet the 95-95-95 fast-track goal to end AIDS.
Still, Owuor said while progress has been commendable, the ambitious goal will not be achieved without missing out on key youth HIV/AIDS eradication milestones.
According to the Kenya Ministry of Health, adolescents’ access to and participation in HIV testing and counseling is significantly low, as is ART coverage, compared with any other age group of people living with HIV.
UNICEF research shows that while HIV awareness is generally enhanced, adolescents still lack comprehensive knowledge about HIV and condom use remains low among the age group.
“Young people are among the least tested, and without targeted intervention they are also non-adherent and often unaffected by the virus. “High viral load, or HIV blood count, increases the risk of HIV transmission in adolescents, so we have to break this cycle,” said Owuor.
Kisi agrees, adding that a young man’s journey to accepting an HIV positive result has been a long one of denial, anger and bitterness.
“Watching friends live as carefree as death is very painful in the heart. The biggest problem is that you lose hope and start believing there is no future,” she said.
“Even today, I still struggle with accepting my status. I recently joined a peer support group and I’m smiling again. I feel more hopeful than ever.”
By @IPSNewsUNBureau
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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
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