Kenya

This year’s World AIDS Day commemorations in Kenya—led by the First Lady of Kenya, Margaret Kenyatta, at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi—were dedicated to young people, under the theme “Engage, prevent, celebrate”.

Thousands of young people joined the First Lady to celebrate the end of a presidential campaign to end HIV stigma, especially among adolescents and young people. The nationwide Kick out HIV Stigma campaign leveraged the power of football to mobilize young people to access stigma-free HIV counselling and testing services and HIV messages.

Ms Kenyatta was joined at the event by UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Luiz Loures. Ms Kenyatta presented trophies to the best performing girls’ and boys’ football teams and county governments that recorded exemplary performance in providing HIV testing and HIV messages to young people. The event also included a concert that engaged Kenyan popular artists to mobilize young people to test for HIV.

HIV is a significant health threat among young people in Kenya. In 2015, 36 000 new HIV infections and 3900 AIDS-related deaths occurred among young people aged 15–24 years. HIV-related stigma remains a significant barrier to many young people accessing HIV counselling, testing and life-saving treatment.

In seven months, the Kick out HIV Stigma campaign reached an estimated 15 million people with HIV messages and provided one-to-one mentorship to more than 3.8 million people and HIV counselling and testing to more than 800 000 people while linking people who tested HIV-positive to treatment. 

Witnessing first-hand the successes and challenges of Kenya’s AIDS response, Victoria and Brooklyn Beckham call for greater commitment, action and funding to end the AIDS epidemic

Nairobi, Kenya, 8 October 2016—UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador Victoria Beckham and her son, Brooklyn Beckham, have completed a three-day mission to Kenya with Born Free Africa and UNAIDS to raise awareness about HIV. Their visit focused on preventing new HIV infections among newborn children and keeping their mothers healthy and the urgency of promoting HIV testing, prevention and treatment for young people, especially adolescent girls and young women. 

During the mission, Victoria and Brooklyn Beckham travelled across the country visiting exciting projects that aim to reduce the effects of HIV in Kenya. They met with community and health workers to understand the challenges they face in their work and learned about their many successes. Victoria and Brooklyn spent time with children and talked to young people and adults living with or affected by HIV, hearing first-hand their personal stories and experiences of HIV.

Today, alongside his mother, Brooklyn took part in a national football campaign “Maisha kick out HIV stigma”, which aims to motivate young people to get HIV tested. HIV testing, prevention and treatment services are critical to ending the AIDS epidemic, but often people, in particular young people, do not access services owing to lack of information and the stigma and discrimination linked to HIV. Brooklyn joined the football match and showed off his footballing talents on the pitch.

UNAIDS estimates that 1.5 million people are living with HIV in Kenya, with about 71 000 new HIV infections among adults in 2015. One third of all new HIV infections occurred among young women and adolescent girls aged 15–24 years, who are at particularly high risk. There were 6600 new HIV infections among children in 2015. The Government of Kenya is committed to ending AIDS and in addition to funding its own national HIV work has recently pledged US$ 5 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and US$ 500 000 to UNAIDS to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

There have been many successes in the AIDS response, but Ms Beckham used the opportunity to highlight that the AIDS epidemic is far from over. “We have come such a long way together to overcome AIDS—we know the facts, we have the tools, but we need commitment, action and funding to see this through! Ending AIDS can happen, but will only happen if we join together and end all forms of stigma and discrimination.”

“Having the support of our International Goodwill Ambassador is extremely important for Kenya in moving towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat,” said UNAIDS Country Director, Jantine Jacobi.

The mission was organized by the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Born Free Africa and UNAIDS.

Born Free Africa

Born Free Africa is a private philanthropic initiative to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV. Born Free works with African governments to invest in highly targeted projects to test the hypothesis that catalytic talent can drive significant change within public health systems. Born Free’s investments in Nigeria and Kenya demonstrate that catalytic talent can be a key lever for change. Born Free has also partnered with the fashion community to harness their voice, creativity, and reach to inspire urgency toward the elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Kenya has reaffirmed its commitment to end HIV-related stigma and discrimination with a new national campaign titled “Kick out HIV stigma”. The campaign, which aims to engage the Kenyan youth through the Maisha County Football League, leverages the power of football to mobilize young people to end HIV stigma and link them to stigma-free HIV testing, treatment and care.

Championing the campaign, Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya received the league’s trophies, which he will award to the winning teams on World AIDS Day 2016.

HIV is significant health threat among adolescents and young people in Kenya.  As per 2015 estimates, a total of 35 776 new HIV infections and 3 853 AIDS-related deaths occurred among young people aged 15 to 24. HIV-related stigma remains a significant barrier to many young people accessing HIV counselling and testing, as well as lifesaving HIV treatment.

The “Kick out HIV stigma” campaign intends to reach 10 million young people in Kenya with HIV messages; provide mentorship to 3 million through an innovative digital platform and HIV counselling and testing—including immediate linkages to HIV treatment for those who test HIV positive—to 1 million by 1 December 2016.

The campaign is led by a partnership between government, the Football Kenya Federation, civil society, the United Nations and Kuza Biashara, a social enterprise on innovative information technology.

A national forum of women living with HIV and women’s leaders was convened in Nairobi, Kenya, on 28 and 29 June to discuss sexual and gender-based violence, especially against women living with HIV.

Participants at the national forum, supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the national network of people living with HIV, in partnership with the National AIDS Control Council and UNAIDS, recognized the slow progress in realizing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Kenya.

The forum called for greater protection from, and response to, sexual and gender-based violence, including access to justice. The HIV and AIDS Tribunal of Kenya—the only HIV-specific statutory body in the world—was cited as a model that could be used to accelerate access to justice. It aims to protect and promote the rights of people living with and affected by HIV in Kenya by increasing access to justice. The forum participants agreed to engage with the tribunal to seek redress and information on preventing violence, especially against women living with HIV.

The forum stressed the importance of holding the government accountable for the implementation of policies and guidelines to protect women from violence, a significant driver of new infections among women and adolescent girls.

Gender-based violence is a global health challenge—women who experience violence are more likely to acquire HIV and women living with HIV are more likely to be subjected to violence. 

The drivers of the motorcycle taxis that transport passengers and goods in Nairobi, Kenya, are predominantly young people, who are at higher risk of HIV infection. To reach out to them, the Nairobi City County, UNAIDS and other partners recently teamed up to promote HIV testing.

More than 10 200 taxi drivers were tested for HIV during the campaign, which ran from 1 to 10 May 2016. Supported by the National AIDS Control Council, the campaign called on the young drivers to know their HIV status. Information on HIV was shared with the drivers and their customers and counselling services were made available. The 81 drivers who were diagnosed with HIV were linked to life-saving antiretroviral treatment.

UNAIDS estimates released on 31 May indicate that, after South Africa, Kenya has the largest treatment programme in Africa, with nearly 900 000 people on treatment at the end of 2015.

New report from UNAIDS shows that the number of people accessing antiretroviral medicines has more than doubled since 2010

GENEVA/NAIROBI, 31 May 2016—An estimated 17 million people were accessing life-saving antiretroviral medicines at the end of 2015, with an additional 2 million people gaining access over a 12-month period. The announcement, made in a new UNAIDS report entitled Global AIDS update 2016, comes as world leaders prepare to gather for the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, to take place in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June 2016.

The extraordinary scale-up of antiretroviral treatment since 2010 by many of the world’s most affected countries has reduced AIDS-related deaths from 1.5 million in 2010  [1.3 million–1.7  million] to 1.1 million [940 000–1.3 million]  in 2015. As more countries adopt new guidelines from the World Health Organization to treat everyone diagnosed with HIV immediately, public health benefits are being realized for individuals and for wider society.

“The full potential of antiretroviral therapy is being realized,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “I urge all countries to seize this unprecedented opportunity to put HIV prevention and treatment programmes on the Fast-Track and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

Global coverage of antiretroviral therapy reached 46% [43–50%] at the end of 2015. Gains were greatest in the world’s most affected region, eastern and southern Africa, where coverage increased from 24% [22–25%] in 2010 to 54% [50–58%] in 2015, reaching a total of 10.3 million people. In South Africa, 3.4 million people had access to treatment, followed by Kenya with nearly 900 000. Botswana, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe all increased treatment coverage by more than 25 percentage points between 2010 and 2015.

The report was launched in Nairobi, Kenya, one of the countries showing the most remarkable progress in expanding access to antiretroviral medicines and reducing the number of new HIV infections.

“The Kenyan government, in partnership with UNAIDS and other development partners, is committed to the Fast-Track approach to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030,” said Cleopa Mailu, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health. “We must catalyse investments across different sectors, with a focus on cost-effective and socially inclusive programmes, if we are to succeed.”      

The UNAIDS Fast-Track approach to treatment is proven to work in countries adopting it. The momentum must continue to achieve the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target by 2020, whereby 90% of people living with HIV know their status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status are accessing treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads. Reaching the 2020 treatment target will set the world on course to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Reinvigorating HIV prevention

Preventing new HIV infections by countering stigma and discrimination and ensuring that 90% of people have access to HIV combination prevention services will also be crucial to ending the AIDS epidemic.

The UNAIDS report shows that declines in new HIV infections among adults have slowed alarmingly in recent years, with the estimated annual number of new infections among adults remaining nearly static at about 1.9 million [1.7 million–2.2 million]. The global figure masks striking regional disparities that must be addressed to achieve the reductions required to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.  

The largest reduction in new adult infections occurred in eastern and southern Africa. There were about 40 000 fewer adult HIV infections in the region in 2015 than in 2010, a 4% decline. More gradual declines were achieved in the Asia and Pacific region and western and central Africa. Rates of new adult HIV infections were relatively stable in Latin America and the Caribbean, western and central Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa. However, the annual number of new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia increased by 57%.    

People being left behind

In the report, UNAIDS urges countries to continue to scale up HIV prevention efforts while continuing to roll out treatment, since many people are still not being reached. Young people and adolescents, especially young women and girls, are still being left behind in the AIDS response. Adolescent girls and young women 15–24 years old are at higher risk of HIV infection globally, accounting for 20% of new HIV infections among adults globally in 2015, despite accounting for just 11% of the adult population. In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls and young women account for 25% new HIV infections among adults. Harmful gender norms and inequalities, obstacles to education and sexual and reproductive health services, poverty, food insecurity and violence are the key drivers of this increased vulnerability.

The report also shows that more than 90% of new HIV infections in central Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa in 2014 were among people from key populations and their sexual partners, including gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who inject drugs. In sub-Saharan Africa, key populations accounted for more than 20% of new HIV infections. These groups of people are still not being reached with HIV prevention and treatment services despite having the highest rates of HIV prevalence.

The report urges countries to work closely with partners, particularly civil society, communities and people living with HIV, to ensure that they know where their epidemics are concentrated and that they have the right services in the right places. 

“We need a people-centred response to the AIDS epidemic that removes all obstacles in the path of people’s access to HIV prevention and treatment services,” said Mr Sidibé. “These services must be fully funded and appropriate to people’s needs so that we can end the AIDS epidemic for everybody.”   

The report outlines that science, evidence and policy have opened up a unique opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. The global community has to unite around this common goal to realize the full potential of the opportunities or risk the epidemic being prolonged indefinitely.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

NAIROBI/GENEVA, 18 September 2015—A new report by UN-Habitat and UNAIDS urges cities to do more to respond to HIV epidemics in urban areas. The report outlines that cities and urban areas are particularly affected by HIV, with the 200 cities most affected by the epidemic estimated to account for more than a quarter of all people living with HIV around the world.

The report, Ending the AIDS epidemic: the advantage of cities, was launched in Nairobi, Kenya, by the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Joan Clos, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé. It reveals that in many countries, rapidly growing cities are home to more than half of all people living with HIV and that many are facing challenges in ensuring access to HIV services.

“Although cities often have resources, viable health systems and the capacity for innovation and service delivery, they sometimes struggle to design and implement focused, effective and rights-based AIDS responses, often leaving behind the most vulnerable and marginalized populations,” said Mr Clos. “Cities are central to bringing a paradigm shift to the AIDS response—a concerted move towards shared responsibility between national and city authorities and community-based organizations in support of local leadership and local evidence to transform the social, political and economic determinants of HIV risk and vulnerability.”

The report highlights that city leaders have a unique opportunity to seize the dynamism, innovation and transformative force of the AIDS response to not only expand HIV services in cities but also address other urban challenges, including social exclusion, inequality and extreme poverty.

“Cities can lead change,” said Mr Sidibé. “As centres for innovation, cities can broker broad partnerships and use their vast resources to provide an inclusive, effective response to HIV based on evidence and grounded in human rights—to leave no one behind.”

In almost half (94) of the 200 cities most affected, HIV is transmitted mainly through unprotected heterosexual sex. In the remaining 106 cities, sex work, unprotected sex between men and injecting drug use are the main drivers of the epidemics. In the Asia–Pacific region, about 25% of all people living with HIV are estimated to reside in 31 major cities, while in western and central Europe, an estimated 60% of all people living with HIV reside in just 20 cities.

According to the new report, data from 30 countries that have conducted nationally representative household-based population surveys show that HIV prevalence among people 15–49 years old living in urban areas is higher than among those living in rural areas in most countries.

Even in countries that are still predominantly rural, cities are often home to disproportionate numbers of people living with HIV. For example, urban areas account for only 18% of Ethiopia’s population but for almost 60% of people living with HIV nationally.

The report outlines the need for cities to establish renewed efforts for an urban health approach that serves the evolving needs of cities and the people who live and work within them. It adds that these measures would help reach the UNAIDS Fast-Track Targets to end the AIDS epidemic as a global health threat by 2030.

The UNAIDS Fast-Track approach requires rapidly scaling up and focusing the implementation and delivery of proven, high-impact HIV prevention and treatment services: an approach that increasingly relies on urban leadership.

A number of countries have introduced specific legislation, national policies or strategies to respond to the needs of people living with and affected by HIV. However many countries continue to lag behind in allocating adequate resources and implementing inclusive and urban-friendly HIV programmes.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Kenya HIV Situation Room centralizes HIV data to ensure more effective and precise programming and reach more people with life-saving services  

NAIROBI/GENEVA, 17 September 2015—The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, have launched an innovative new tool to track progress and identify gaps in HIV programming in Kenya.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room brings together logistics and service delivery data to produce a more comprehensive picture and understanding of Kenya’s epidemic. The Kenya HIV Situation Room will enable quick feedback on results at the county and community levels and identify any bottlenecks and access issues. Its aim is to speed up and streamline communications between policy-makers and implementers and to help Kenya stay on track to reach its national health targets and improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV across the country.

“As we all know what gets measured gets done,” said President Kenyatta, “I am pleased that today the Internet based dashboard, the Kenya HIV Situation Room has been unveiled. The use of ICT is a priority for my government”. 

Latest data from the Kenya HIV Situation Room shows that Kenya is close to having 800 000 people on treatment.

“High velocity data is critical for insights into a more effective and efficient response to HIV. President Kenyatta’s leadership will help Africa accelerate progress towards ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the sustainable development goals,” said Mr Sidibé. “It can serve in a similar manner to track progress against other diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria.”   

By adopting a people-centred approach to its response to ensure that no one is left behind, Kenya has been able to accelerate progress towards ending its AIDS epidemic. New HIV infections fell by 77% from 250 000 [220 000 - 290 000] from their peak in 1993 to 56 000 [47 000 - 67 000] in 2014.

AIDS-related deaths were reduced by 74% from 130 000 [100 000 - 170 000] at the peak in 2003 to 33 000 [25 000 - 45 000] in 2014 as access to antiretroviral treatment was scaled up. In 2014, around 57% [50%-66%] of adults living with HIV in Kenya had access to the lifesaving medicines and 67% [59%-78%] of pregnant women living with HIV had access to medicine to prevent transmission of the virus to their child. This has resulted in a 74% decline in new HIV infections among children since the peak in 1994.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room will enable AIDS programme staff to localize where efforts need to be intensified. This more accurate programming will help to ensure that mothers have access to HIV testing early on in their pregnancy, that children living with HIV have regular access to care and treatment and that antiretroviral medicines are replenished quickly should stock-outs occur. All information is measured by each facility and service delivery point and fed back to the Kenya HIV Situation Room. The information is anonymous to ensure that full confidentiality is maintained.

The Government of Kenya and UNAIDS have worked together to bring four different data sets into one tool: data from the District Health Information System; information from the Kenya Medical Supply Agency; Kenya’s HIV estimates; and data from the National AIDS Control Council on programme implementers and service delivery.

The Kenya HIV Situation Room, developed by the National AIDS Control Council and the Kenyan Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNAIDS, is supported by the Government of Japan, which contributed resources as part of its continued support to improving monitoring and evaluation of the global AIDS epidemic.

During the event in Nairobi, President Kenyatta also reported progress made in reaching adolescents with HIV services and announced that Kenya would be launching a new Presidential campaign against stigma and discrimination.

“Our constitution guarantees every child a right to education, the highest available standard of health and protection from all forms of discrimination.” said President Kenyatta, “We cannot change anyone’s HIV status but we can change our attitude. Let us stop stigma and let us stop it right now.”

The campaign is designed to encourage young people to know their HIV status as part of the Kenya Fast-Track plan to reduce new HIV infections and increase access to treatment among adolescents and young people.   

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.