Increase condom dispensers

Kisumu, Sunday, June 4, 2023

KNA by Joseph Ouma

There is an urgent need to increase condom dispensers in public and private places to curb the rising new HIV infections in Kisumu County.

The move follows recent mapping of condom dispensing places in Kisumu which established that most of them lacked the lifesaving gadgets.

HIV/AIDS Regional Coordinator, Steve Kathaka said HIV which is largely a lifestyle disease could easily be contained but lack of the condoms was not commensurate with the rising population in learning institutions, offices and other public joints frequented by people in the lakeside city.

Kathaka said it was ridiculous to continue keeping condoms inside toilets yet these could be placed in strategic, open places for easy access by those involved in high-risk sex escapades.

Kathaka who doubles up as Kisumu County HIV Coordinator said out of the eight CD4 Count machines (Facspresto) available in the region only two were functional thus making it difficult to keep up with the demands for testing.

Subsequently, the HIV/AIDS Coordinator told the County HIV/AIDS Multisector Committee Friday that Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) should consider supplying more of the machines to boost the fight against the scourge.

Committee members proposed that demands for more CD4 machines should form the basis for an advocacy tool for mobilizing the requisite resources.

He said the upsurge of HIV in the lakeside county has been wrongly attributed to poverty yet there were inherent factors already laid bare by the recent Mid-Term-Review (MTR) aimed at facilitating Kisumu Aids Implementation Plan.

Kathaka said Kisumu is one of the six counties involved in the recent MTR considering that it is also an area having high HIV/AIDS burden with 15 per cent HIV prevalence and 136,000 HIV cases.

However, he reassured the committee that working in collaboration with other partners they seek to reduce the prevalence to a single digit since Kisumu with a population of 1.1 million people (2022) had a 16 per cent HIV prevalence.

“There were 3,117 new HIV infections in Kisumu last year with 5,277 female sex workers yet 10,000 people had sex without condoms against 5,000 others who reported to have had sex with condoms,” he revealed.

He explained that the high HIV prevalence was not due to poverty arguing that the Lakeside County has 4,025 Men who have Sex with Men (MSMs) but have gone public and registered despite the stigma associated with the behavior.

He took up the challenge to allay the misconception that MSM was as a result of genetic configuration, pointing out that the high-risk group have constantly asked the government and partners to avail lubricants for the ‘pipe’ (anus).

He revealed that in the 1960s those who practiced anal sex demanded that they be removed from the psychological groupings but to date, many have come to agree that anal sex is not a natural act and so the need for the lubricants.

It was in this light, he added, that marriage is now a very dangerous institution with many couples declining to use condoms for various reasons yet it has a huge potential as a family planning tool alongside prevention of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

Kathaka cautioned the public to watch out for learners in schools, colleges and universities who are being targeted by those pushing for the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQs) by being lured through increased funding.

He said there are 390 Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in Kisumu County pushed into the dangerous habit when broke and even risked further by their willingness to have blood drawn from those high on drugs pumped into their system.

“We also have 220 Transgender in Kisumu where a whopping 66 per cent of women got tested for HIV and received results last year. This was compared to 55% of men who also confirmed their status,” he told the committee.

He revealed that whereas 64 per cent of men used condoms during sex last year, the remaining 36 per cent had sex without condoms.

Similarly, he said there were 6,763 teenage pregnancies (10-19) recorded in Kisumu in 2022 while 53 per cent of men (15-64) were reported to have been circumcised during the same period.

Kathaka informed members that NACC allocated to Kisumu and Siaya Counties Kshs.6 million each to fund Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for which 70 VMMC champions have already been trained to spearhead the program which prevents HIV infection by 65 per cent.

Courtesy ; K. N. A