The National Aids Control Board has launched a move to devolve HIV/AIDS management at the county level to ensure that their services are accessible to the rural masses.
Addressing Constituency Aids Control Councils strategic plan meeting at the Thika Coconut grill Hotel, UNAIDs Partner adviser, Ruth Macha called on all counties to come up with their own strategic plans to combat the disease in their respective areas.
Macha noted that the scourge has taken an unexpected dimension with recent statistics showing that many new infection cases are within the married couples and youth between 18- 25 years of age.
“Try and find out why the new infections are now more prevalent amongst the married couples, youths and at some point men of between the ages of 45-55,” urged Macha.
“Does it have any implications that urgently need to be addressed and what can you people do to conquer the new challenges?”, She posed.
Macha pointed out that each county has its unique challenges and it is therefore prudent for all the stakeholders to draw strategic plans that are applicable to their areas of jurisdiction.
She pointed out Thika town and its environs where she noted that it has high infection prevalence due to its proximity to the City, Thika super-highway and the many higher learning institutions.
“A strategic plan on how to address the scourge in Thika town would be very different from Nyahururu or Maragwa,” noted Macha.
Macha noted that stigma is still a major challenge in Central region.
Most people in the region shy away from knowing their status unlike in other parts of the country where people have strongly fought stigma by either going public on their status or simply participating in voluntary counselling and testing sessions.