Naivasha Sub County hospital registered a decline in cases of HIV infections among pregnant women in the last financial year.
Naivasha Sub County Medical Officer of Health Dr Oren Ombiro said 7652 out of the 8318 of pregnant women who attended antenatal care at the hospital only 220 (2.9%) were HIV positive.
This was a decline from 5.5 percent in 2011, 3.8 percent in 2012 and 3.3 percent in 2013 in a town whose prevalence rate stands at 5.1 percent. Dr Ombiro attributed the decline to increased and sustained awareness campaigns by health personnel in the area through health education.
Speaking in his office on Thursday, Dr Ombiro was however concerned at the low number of men accompanying their wives to be tested for HIV during antenatal clinics. He said a total of 4,545 adults in the sub-county in the year under review were on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) while another 5,585 were on care.
At the same time Dr Ombiro added that during this period, 304 children were on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) while 387 were on care.
Dr Ombiro also revealed that the sub-county is scaling up HIV-Testing and Counseling (HTC) as a measure to prevent HIV infections as contained in the Rapid Advice Booklet launched in June last year.
“The sub-county health team has put in place measures to mitigate the effects of HIV/Aids. Naivasha has a unique and dynamic population with hotspots such as Maai Mahiu. These include initiating HAART for all HIV-positive children aged 10 years and below and for all HIV-positive pregnant and/or breastfeeding women, and raising the threshold for initiating HAART to a CD4 of 500 from the previous 350”, he said.
He revealed that in the F/Y 2013/2014, 46,686 people were tested for HIV. Out of these, 2,254 were positive, representing an HTC positivity rate of 4.8%. 1,341 were enrolled on care and 1,069 started on HAART. The sub-county has 46 HIV testing and counseling sites, and 11 others that offer ART.