Garissa Has Less Than 0% HIV Prevalence As Homa Bay Leads With 19.6% – Report

A new study has revealed that Garissa County has <0.1% HIV prevalence with Homa Bay leading the pack at 19.6percent.

The study, conducted between June 2018 and February 2019 shows Nyanza region havibg more HIV prevalence than the rest of the country.

According to the Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (KENPHIA) 2018, Kisumu has 17.5%, Siaya and Migori are at 15.3% and 13.0% respectively,

4.9% Nyanza region is way above the average.

The study found that North Eastern region (where Garissa is located) reported lowest prevalence with the region showing less than 0.2%.
Kisumu is at 4.9%
Nairobi at 3.8%
Mombasa 5.6%
Nyeri 5.1%
Uasin Gishu 5.5%
Kajiado 4.6%
Turkana 6.8% and
Kiambu 1.1%

The report further notes that 1.3million (4.9%) adults are living with HIV while 139,000 (0.7%) children are living with the virus.

“HIV prevalence was twice as high among women at 6.6% (95% CI: 6.0%-7.1%), compared to men at 3.1% (95% CI: 2.7%-3.5%),” the study found.

Kenya has the fifth-largest number of persons living with HIV in the world, and HIV continues to be a leading cause of adult morbidity and mortality.

34,610 individuals participated in survey across the country: 27,897 were aged between 15-64 years and 6,713 were children aged between 0-14 years.