Beyond science, look at the social aspects to tackle HIV in youth

In the midst of all the political activity in Kenya, many turned up for the Maisha HIV and Aids conference that came to end on Wednesday last week in Nairobi.

The attendance was an indicator of just how many are passionate about the issues on health in Kenya.

The event attracted policy makers, globally acclaimed researchers in the area of HIV as well as advocacy and civil societies.

Due to this participation of many from diverse fields, Kenya has come a long way in the management of HIV. The report on the progress of the country on HIV that the Chief Executive Officer of the National Aids Control Council (NACC) Dr Nduku Kilonzo shared at the conference indicated that, as at 2016, our national prevalence was at 5.4 per cent.

Even with the threats of decline in funding, the research community has showed that they are committed to use whatever is ethically available at their disposal to halt the disease on its tracks.

A trip to National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (Nacosti), the body constitutionally charged with the duty of licensing research, and you will be surprised the amount of research going on in Kenya.

Some of these studies have influenced policy, but a lot more are yet to solve the socio-economic as well the health issues that plague Kenyans.

We applaud the government for the Science Technology and Innovations Act 2013 that created Nacosti. This act came with the government committing to spending 2 per cent of its GDP on research and development.

LAYERED CONTEXTS

As we wait for the fulfilment of that promise, it is important that the studies that have already been conducted and published be translated into a tangible solution-providing products that the people for whom the studies were conducted would benefit.

At the newly created www.maishamaarifa.or.ke   portal, 1,090 studies were uploaded on April 2016 alone.

These studies—concluded and ongoing— touched on several issues that are social and clinical as far as HIV is concerned.

However, beyond the microbicides and the Antiretroviral therapy, there are social factors that have to augment the efforts in science to halt new infections.

There were 61,000 new infections that were reported in 2016, a 21 per cent reduction from the more than 77,000 that we recorded in 2015.

These are just not numbers. They are a chance for us to think about the social and often layered context in which HIV thrives.

Of the aforementioned figures, 26,000 were young people aged between 15 and 24. That is an unacceptable 43 per cent of all new cases.

Several reasons have been advanced to explain why these young people are increasingly becoming vulnerable to infection, factors that touch on their economic status, the home environment among others.

This is a call for all of us to step in to fill in these gaps that science may be deficient in filling such as sense of belonging, a safe and secure environment where young people can talk about the matters that assail them from within and without.

Given the numbers, it is hardly surprising that the discussions about it are going on, and I would like them to continue and even in a more transparent way.

Should the government allocate more money to prevention— because it has been going down— and invest in communication to young people?

This will require the commitment of parents, teachers, religious leaders, corporate organisations and many other shareholders.

Whenever you see a young person, please take it as your own responsibility. Do not assume it is her parent’s and that when they get sick it is the hospital’s and the doctors’.

I challenge everyone who is knowledgeable on HIV to purpose to talk to one person about the matter.

We call on policy makers to interact to scientists. We could make your work of taking care of your electorate easy as we benefit from their role of passing laws that make our work easy.

Many hands and voices, one voice, zero new infections, a healthier and richer in Kenya.

Dr Vernon Mochache is the head of research at the National Aids Control Council (NACC)