Today's Headlines
- Drivers Abandon Vehicles to Protest Pay
- ECK Was Pressured to Release Results
- KWS Intercepts Snakes Cargo for Export
- Raila Coming Next Month
- Country's Juniors League Prepare for Nairobi Tourney
- Harassment at Borders Irks Odinga
- Kenyan Minister Accuses UPDF of Killing Pastoralists
- Saitoti Says Violence Will Never Return
- Victims of Conflict With Wildlife to Receive Sh1 Million
- Kenyans Praised for Quick End to Violence
- Inmates Tell of Deaths in Prison
- MPs Approve Proposal to Set Aside Prime Minister's Question Time
- Ban Violators Face Axe, Warns Council
- Security Beefed Up in Mungiki-Hit Areas
- Mombasa Council Loses War Against Garbage
- Researchers Breed Weed-Resistant Cereal
- Combine Anti-Terror Teams - US
- Githongo Warns Coalition Over Corruption
- RVR in Plans to Overhaul Rail System
- Shock And Outrage Over Killer Rapist
- Kriegler Tells ECK to Embrace Change
- Shut Abattoirs Yet to Meet Standards
- Make City Work Now!
- Ministers Must Show Discipline
- Leaders Pledge to Deliver New Constitution
- Four Arrested in City Over Fazul Link
- Workers' Retirement Age May Rise
- Rights Body Report 'Doctored'
- Give Amnesty to End Graft Cases - Githongo
- Gathering Storm of Expectations in Nairobi Slum
Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
August 5, 2008
News Article
Some Catholic officials working in HIV/AIDS programmes have backed government statistics showing that the infection rate is on the rise.
The 2008 Kenya Aids Indicator Survey published last week indicated that HIV infection stands at 7.3 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 2003. Some 1.4 million people are living with the virus, 83 per cent of them unaware of their status.
The HIV/AIDS coordinator in Homa Bay Diocese in Nyanza Province, Fr Emilio Barrlliana, told CISA that last month they conducted Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) in one village and out of a hundred people tested, 51 of them were positive.
The infection rates in Nyanza and Nairobi are the highest at 15.3 percent, according to the government survey.
Fr Barrlliana said that so far, there are 3,000 people awaiting treatment with 2,000 already on treatment.
In Kitui Diocese in eastern Kenya, Vivian Mlonzia said that the HIV infection rate is on the increase mainly because there is no significant change in individual sexual behaviour. She attributed this to availability of Anti-retrovirals (ARVs) drugs.
Carol Wandi, who works with HIV/Aids Programme for Kitale Diocese in western Kenya, also said that the prevalence of the virus was on the rise.
The Catholic Church launched a National HIV/AIDS Policy last year.
Kenya has climbed down from the list of most successful countries in Africa in controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS, according to the UNAids 2008 report.
