Uasin Gishu County has recorded 1000 new HIV infection by September 2019, majority of whom are youths aged between 15 and 24 years.
According to the Uasin Gishu County HIV/Aids Coordinator, Simon Rono, this was an increase from 780 new infections in 2018.
Speaking in Eldoret during the World Aids Day on Sunday, Rono said the county currently has a total of 32,000 people living with HIV/AIDS as per the 2018 statistics report.
“Half of those living with the disease are the youth with the most affected segment being in informal settlements and sex workers,” said Rono.
The reason for the high prevalence of HIV in informal settlements is that there are many teenage pregnancies due to children dropping out of school.
The most affected informal settlements in the County, include Munyaka Langas, Huruma and Kamukunji.
He challenged the residents of the county to go for testing and not shy off saying that knowing their status will enable those already infected be started on ARV’s early and for those not infected will be able to manage their sexual lifestyle to avoid being infected.
Rono warned Kenyans against stigmatizing which is very common against those infected by HIV since if you are not infected you are affected in one way or another.
”You should give support to those suffering from the disease instead of shunning them, stigmatizing the victims makes their lives unbearable,” said Rono
By Kiptanui Cherono
