Kenya seeks to have 80 pct of population HIV tested

Kenya aims at achieving 80 percent of HIV testing among its approximately 40 million people by 2013, an HIV expert said here on Friday. Peter Cherutich, the Deputy Director and Head of HIV Prevention at the National Aids and STIs Control Program (NASCOP) said that the country is keen on ensuring that majority of its population know their HIV status to effectively fight the disease. "As a country, we want everyone, be it children, old men or pregnant women to know their HIV status," Cherutich told an HIV forum in Nairobi. He added that Kenya will also strengthen measures to take care of HIV patient so that once a person knows their status, they can thereafter access anti-retroviral drugs to reduce chances of transmission. Currently, according to Cherutich, about 60 percent of Kenyans know their HIV status. "Various strategies have been put in place to encourage all adults to know their HIV status but about 40 percent of people in this country have never undergone a HIV test," he noted. The untested people, he added, have hampered government's plans to control new HIV infections, which remain high. The HIV expert noted that despite the huge number of people who do not know their status, Kenya leads in the East African region in the number of people who know their HIV status. NASCOP estimates that about 100,000 people are infected with HIV in Kenya every year. The country's HIV prevalence stands at seven percent. According to Cherutich, HIV testing is one of the most critical parts in the fight against the scourge. "HIV is a unique disease. It can stay in one's body for over ten years without detection thus leading to high rates of transmission. Such a person, who is asymptomatic, will believe that he is healthy and has high chances of infecting other people. Thus, it is only through testing that we can eliminate such cases," he said. He explained that as an organization spearheading the fight against HIV/AIDS, they are advocating that every Kenyan who visits a medical facility be requested to take a HIV test. "This radical measure will not only boost the response towards HIV but enable universal access to HIV testing in primary health care," he said. Currently, according to the HIV expert, they are undertaking several projects that include HIV testing at the antenatal clinics and Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centres to ensure the country achieves the 80 percent target. "We believe our target is achievable. It will be good for us if we surpass it but we put it there because we know our society is still not very open to HIV infected people and the uptaking of HIV testing services have been slow," he said.