Four people in Kenya die every hour due to HIV, a report by the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council has revealed.
According to the 2022 Worlds Aids day report, HIV accounted for 29 per cent of all deaths in the country. Out of every four people who got infected with HIV per hour one was a child.
The council's report also observed that 760,314 deaths have been averted by Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART).
At the same time, 164,072 children infections were averted due to the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program.
The data recorded also showed that 1,354,350 Kenyans from the age of 15 were living with HIV while 82,917 people aged between 0-14 were living with HIV.
Counties with the highest prevalence were as follows: Homa Bay county had the highest HIV prevalence at 16.2 per cent, Kisumu (15.5%), Siaya (14.1%), Migori (10.4%), Busia (5.4%), Mombasa (5.4%), Kisii (4.7%), Samburu and Vihiga (4.6%), Nairobi (4.3%) and Uasin Gishu (4.0%).
More men died
The same report also revealed that more men died of HIV/Aids compared to women in the last decade.
According to the data collected between 2013 and 2021, 8,291 men aged 30 and above lost their lives to the disease while 6,923 women died of the same infection.
The number of men listed accounted for 37 per cent of all AIDS-related deaths.
The report also revealed that men were less likely to be diagnosed, start and stay on treatment compared to women.
