A HIV self-test kit. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya is on course to meeting the UN's targets of diagnosing 90
per cent of all HIV-positive persons, delivering treatment to 90 per
cent of those diagnosed with the disease, and suppressing the virus in
90 percent of people receiving anti-Aids medication by next year.
90 percent of people receiving anti-Aids medication by next year.
Lazarus
Amayo, Kenya's ambassador to the UN, said on Monday the annual rate of
new HIV infections has been cut by 51 per cent —from 100,000 to 50,000
Kenyans — since the adoption in 2014 of a revised roadmap pointing the
way to ending Aids.
Mr Amayo told a UN General Assembly
debate on the epidemic that the country's success in reducing the rates
of Aids-related deaths and HIV infections results from the national
policy that stands as a global trend-setter.
"Kenya's
inventive and bold location-based approach has now become the global
standard for HIV programming and resource allocation,” the envoy said.
Mr
Amayo also called the UN's attention to the country's “one-of-a-kind”
HIV Tribunal, a statutory body established in 2006 that “ensures that
people living with the virus do not face stigma or discrimination based
on their status.”
Mr Amayo, who also spoke on behalf of the African group of UN
member-states, warned that the sub-Saharan Africa's “youth bulge”
presents special challenges for HIV prevention efforts.
Many
young Africans are not being informed about the risks of HIV
transmission, a shortfall has an especially harmful impact on young
African women and girls who continue to suffer high rates of HIV
infection, the ambassador told the world body.
He also spotlighted the negative effect of user fees that some countries impose for diagnostic tests and consultations.
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