More Kenyans are living with HIV, a government report said Tuesday, but the rate of infection is virtually unchanged and the increase in HIV patients is due to wider use of life-prolonging drugs.
More than 1.4 million Kenyans are living with the virus, the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey 2007 said. HIV infection among sexually active people increased to 7.8 percent in 2007, up slightly from 6.7 percent in 2003.
Three out of five HIV-infected Kenyans are women, said Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed, who heads the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infection Control Program.
Uncircumcised men are three to five times likelier to get infected with HIV than those who are circumcised, the report said, supporting earlier studies.
At least 18,000 people between ages 15-64 were tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases during the study conducted from August 2007 to May 2008.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga said it is alarming that less than 50 percent of Kenyans used condoms and only 20 percent used a condom during their last sexual encounter, according to the study.
"The only way to reverse this epidemic is through prevention" Odinga said.
HIV prevalence rate is on the rise, growing more than a quarter percent a year, despite progress made in getting more HIV-positive people on medication and more people tested to know their status.
"There are now nearly 1 1/2 million Kenyan living with AIDS. ... This nothing less than a national crisis," Odinga said.
The government is debating whether to include voluntary circumcision programs in its official HIV policy but elders in some ethnic groups who do not traditionally circumcise are opposed to the idea.
Several international and local institutions helped compile the survey, including the U.S. Center for Disease and Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the Kenya Medical and Research Institute.
