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Kenya AIDS — The menace continues |
AIDS
In 1999, Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi declared AIDS a national disaster.
The following is an up-date of the present state of affairs
The situation in Kenya is fast approaching a national disaster. Just to show how serious things have become, Professor Mengech, director of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the second largest in the country, says 20% of bed occupants are suffering from AIDS. He explains that plans are underway to increase the bed capacity by one hundred and fifty beds from the current four hundred and eighty, in order to meet present needs.
Teachers and nurses are the most infected groups. Dr. Ambrose Misore, the Provincial Medical Officer, says that four out of every thirty nurses in Nyanza Province suffer from HIV/AIDS related illnesses. And, «every weekend we raise funds for staff funerals. Because there is an embargo on employment, we are forced to operate with an increasingly lean staff». Dr. Misore explains that the problem has reached such alarming proportions that relatives of hospitalized patients are forced to take charge and nurse them, since trained personnel are few. He asks the general public not to rush in condemning the hospital staff for inadequate services, as declining standards are a result of circumstances beyond their control.
Combatting the disease
A number of medical trials have been made in an effort to combat the disease. An AIDS vaccine is to be tested in Kenya in December 2000, after a first set of trials in the United Kingdom. The DNA vaccine — specifically designed for Africa — is based on the HIV-subtype A which is common in Kenya and other parts of Africa. In Kenya, the test will be carried out in three phases, the first involving one hundred people and will take one-and-a-half years. The second phase will take two-and-a-half years, while the third is scheduled to last three-and-a-half years.
In the meantime, AIDS awareness campaigns have been intensified. One of the ways used is through sport, involving not just young people but adults as well. On 20 August 2000, a special game of football took place. The game was between Members of Parliament (Bunge Football Club) and Mukurwe-ini (Central Province). «Master of Ceremonies» for the occasion was Runyenje’s Member of Parliament, Njeru Kathangu, who explained they were playing a game of football and then intended to discuss AIDS-related issues.
Use is also made of video shows which are taken «on safari» to villages. The 140,000 commuters using the Kenya Ferry Services daily, were exposed to an AIDS awareness campaign during a month. «We feel we have a moral responsibility to join hands in fighting this disease as it is killing Kenyans at an alarming rate», says Mr John Ria, a public relations officer. «It is a serious issue that each and every Kenyan must take seriously».
HIV/AIDS sufferers have also taken a bold step in coming into the open. From 1-3 August 2000, HIV/AIDS infected people organised a gathering at Mbagathi for an awareness campaign.
Not everyone is in agreement with the methods applied. Dr Thuo Kuria, chairman of the Sociology Department at Egerton University, has called for a shift from a «negative» to a «positive» approach to bring about increased behaviourial change. He said the current strategy aimed at installing a fear of death from the virus, has been set in motion so as to bring about changes in the way people behave. But this is proving counter-productive as it gets people’s backs up.
Speaking at a one-day Workshop on the theme: «Family Planning and Sexual Behaviour in the era of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS», organised by the African Population and Health Research Centre at a Nakuru (Rift Valley Province) hotel on 28 August 2000, Dr. Kuria said: «Messages on death from AIDS are not helping this country at all. We ought to start giving positive messages such as to what an individual stands to gain in life if he/she avoids contracting the disease.»
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