Residents of Kisii County have been urged to embrace regular HIV and Aids testing to reduce the ignorance of people living with the virus.
Speaking while officially launching the mobile clinic “Beyond Zero” targeting to reduce deaths of mothers during delivery, first lady Margaret Kenyatta asked the residents to come out and know about their status for the rate at which the disease is spreading is worrying.
“While we target reduction of mothers’ deaths while giving birth, this clinic will also be used to freely test individuals for HIV and Aids. The trend and events on handling the disease are disturbing,” stated the first lady.
Kisii County governor James Ongwae, who was in attendance, asked the residents to handle the issue like any other disease to avoid stigma taking many lives.
“It is disturbing to note that in this county HIV prevalence had reduced but it is now going up again. Stigma and ignorance take many people’s lives,” the governor said.
Ongwae also asked the first lady to increase the pace of addressing health matters saying the county government will allocate 30 per cent of its budget for health. The kisii mobile clinic is the thirteenth in a campaign targeting all the 47 counties.
16 out of 47 counties first ladies were present in support of the beyond zero campaign programme where they vowed to join hands in saving lives countrywide.
At the same time, Cord leaders from Kisii County vowed to work closely with the national government to attain their development goals .
Kisii County deputy governor stated that its development the people want and not politics.
“It is evident that our people are tired of noisy cheap politics that cannot see a development projects brought up. As a county, we are working with the national government to enhance progressive development to our people not politics,” said Maangi.