Esteemed e-forum Members and Facilitators,
If we don't even know whether our programme strategies are effective to curb HIV/AIDS prevalence, based on the report below, how do you expect the GF to ensure countries receive the capacity development support needed for the prep of PP and implementation of programs? What are we really targetting and what do we hope to mitigate?
I have sounded alarm about the numbers released from the 3 countries that dropped in Kenya and Uganda and all of IGNORED ME as though I was the dumbest woman on the e-forum . I knew 100% that Kenya's and Uganda's numbers were flawed but all of you choose to remain silent.
Silence implies consent. Guess what thousands of more lives will be lost because inaccurate information is being given and people are not being reached and treated around Africa.
As a consultant I'm reading into this issue more than you want to know. Do you think your programmes are effective? Do you submit lower prevalence numbers to justify the continuity of GF funding that your programmes are effective and then go back and redo the survey? What are we trying to proof here?
Why isn't Uganda releasing the HIV/AIDS prevalence data and come clean and why are they hiding it from the world Robson Olwe and Collins Kidega?
Why isn't Tanzania brave enough to release the HIV/AIDS prevalence data and come clean and why are they hiding it from the world Richard Kasesela?
How do you all practice as CCMs and what code of conduct or ethics guides you? I would like all three of you to answer this e-forum because I believe you are men of integrity that are managing in these countries. Kenya set the example, please tell your governments transparency is critical because your reputation matters.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS YOUR PROGRAMMES AREN'T EFFECTIVE AS YOUR REPORTS SUBMITTED TO THE GF. THERE IS A MASSIVE DISCREPANCY WITH WHAT YOU REPORT TO THE GF VERSUS WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENING ON THE GROUND.
A TEAM OF US IS READY TO DO YOUR CONSULTATIONS IF YOU ARE WILLING TO PAY.
Shocking Rise in HIV Prevalence
The Nation (Nairobi)
NEWS
29 July 2008
Posted to the web 29 July 2008
By Arthur Okwemba
Kenya’s HIV and Aids prevalence rate has increased to nearly eight per cent, according to a new study to be released Tuesday
Just when Kenyans were beginning to celebrate last year’s announcement that the prevalence rate had dropped to 5.1 per cent, the Government is expected to announce that the rate is actually higher.
Based on a new study conducted last year, the findings show HIV prevalence to be higher than last year’s 5.1 per cent and the 6.7 per cent captured by a 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.
The study, 2007 Kenya Aids Indicator Survey (KAIS), shows HIV prevalence among pregnant women to be on the rise, returning a figure higher than the 7.3 per cent recorded in the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).
Last year an upbeat Government announced a decline based on statistics from antenatal clinics: “Kenya is one of three African nations that recently has made significant progress in HIV/Aids prevention and treatment programmes.”
But these new findings from a study said to have cost about Sh400 million (US$6 million), have shocked the Government, with officials said to be sharply divided on whether to release the figures.
Several meetings, including a Cabinet discussion, seem to have finally decided to release the statistics after agreement on what to tell the public about the discrepancy in the HIV prevalence trend.
Similar studies in Uganda and Tanzania have not been released several months after they were completed.
It is understood these studies, which are using higher populations in their samples than even the respected Demographic Health Surveys, consistently show higher HIV prevalence rates.
According to the 2007 KAIS, Nyanza Province led in infections, followed by Nairobi, Coast, Rift Valley, Western, Eastern, Central and North Eastern.
Upward trend
But Nairobi and Central registered a decrease in the prevalence rate, with other provinces recording increasing rates compared to the 2003 KDHS findings.
Similarly, while urban areas have higher infection rates compared to rural areas, prevalence rates in the latter seems to be on the upward trend.
The KAIS study also looked at the prevalence of herpes simplex virus-2 and syphilis and their co-infections with HIV. Prevalence of syphilis infection was higher in the rural areas than urban ones, with males being most affected.
As the country ponders on these new developments, the findings raise some pertinent questions of what is really going on in the HIV and Aids field.
Fenna E. Bacchus CEO/President
Functional Illiteracy Research and Education Inc.
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