Kenya keen to learn lessons of fight against HIV/AIDS

Senior Kenyan officials from the ministries of health and education are the latest beneficiaries of a HIV/Aids management training program sponsored by China's Ministry of Commerce.

Lee Njagi, a senior health promotion officer in Kenya's Ministry of Health and Margaret Mwirigi, a senior Ministry of Education official, joined participants from other African countries in a three-week training program on HIV/Aids prevention, care and management.

During an interview in Nairobi on Friday, the officials said the training improved their knowledge of the killer disease.

"Our training revolved around basic HIV/Aids control measures. We learned how China manages the disease and how we can apply those lessons here in Kenya," said Njagi.

Kenya is among the top five countries with the highest HIV/Aids burden. Statistics from the ministry of health indicate that 1.6 million Kenyans are living with HIV while an estimated 850,000 are taking anti-retroviral drugs.

"China has a unique model for dealing with HIV/Aids. The country's major successes have been in research and innovative ways of dealing with specific risk groups such as commercial sex workers, intravenous drug users and gays," said Njagi, adding that China has launched vibrant interventions to reduce mother to child transmission of the virus.

During training in China, Njagi visited rehabilitation centers for high risk groups who shared experiences that could inform the roll-out of high impact interventions for their counterparts in Kenya.

Kenya has made significant progress in fighting the disease, but challenges like discrimination against those who are HIV-positive and over-reliance on external funding could derail this progress.

Njagi underscored the need for the government and multilateral partners to reboot preventive measures and fight the discrimination against those infected with HIV.

Mwirigi, a senior director in the ministry of education, said the China-funded training program improved her knowledge of how to improve HIV awareness among adolescents and young adults.

"After the training, I initiated a program to build the capacity of teachers to handle HIV-positive learners. We have conducted sensitization workshops and have developed a sector plan to support HIV-positive learners with the emphasis on prevention, treatment and care," Mwirigi said, adding that Kenya should apply China's successful models on awareness, research and treatment to enhance response to HIV infections among young people.

According to the Ministry of Health, an estimated 260,000 Kenyan adolescents and youths are living with HIV or Aids.