Kenya ramps up efforts to curb HIV infections among youth

Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has said that the government is ramping up efforts to contain the rising new HIV infections among adolescents and young adults. Gachagua, who received Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director Winnie Byanyima in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, said the government has roped in local administrators, lawmakers and other interest groups in fighting triple threats facing adolescents and teenagers, Xinhua news agency reported. The “triple threats” are HIV infections, adolescent pregnancies, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) among adolescents and young adults. According to the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council (former National AIDS Control Council) report of 2022, at least 52 percent of the 29,380 new infections were among adolescents and young adults aged 15-29. A majority of these cases are girls and young women. Female genital mutilation (FGM), SGBV, and teenage pregnancies have been singled out as threats predisposing girls in Kenya and globally to HIV/AIDS, according to the report. Gachagua attributed the high number of infections in 2021 to the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the closure of schools, he said, the children were at home, making them more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, FGM, and forced marriage, which have been linked to the rise of infections.