Impact of COVID-19 on HIV/AIDS Programming in Kenya: - Muhula, Samuel; Ngugi, Dr. Catherine; Opanga, Yvonne; Ngunu, Dr. Caroline; Carter, Dr. Jane; Oramisi, Dr. Violet; Marita, Enock; Memiah, Dr. Peter; Osur, Prof. Joachim (My University, 2020)
Evidence from Kibera Informal Settlement and COVID-19 hotspot counties
Kenya has witnessed tremendous progress over the last decade in reducing the annual number of new HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths, resulting in improved quality of life for PLHIV and reduced risk of infection • 79.5% of PLHIV in the country are aware of their HIV status; 96% are on life saving treatment and 90.6% of those on life saving treatment had achieved viral load suppression (KEPHIA, 2018) • In addition, Kenya has been a huge prevention success story in the region. • One of the first to approve the use of PrEP and has led the way in providing prevention measures such as VMMC • As a result, new infections have fallen drastically in recent years On 13th March, Kenya reported the first case of COVID-19 • As of Oct 29th 2020, there were 51,851 cases, 934 (2%) deaths and 35,258 (68%) recoveries in the Country • The world had recorded about 44.7M COVID-19 cases, 1,179,232 (3%) deaths and 32M (73%) recoveries as of Oct 29th 2020 • To date, there is limited data on exact effect of COVID-19 coinfection on PLHIVs • Studies have shown that people with pre-existing conditions who contract COVID-19 are at higher risk of disease progression including death, though not much is known about the relationship between COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS • It is also not clear whether Kenya had recorded spikes in Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) before the outbreak was confirmed in March 2020.