The Kenyan experience In Kenya, AIDS was declared a national

The Kenyan experience
In Kenya, AIDS was declared a national
in 1999. Over 2.5 million people are
living with HIV, an estimated 15% of the
adult population. In addition to the
estimated 220 000 HIV-positive children,
there are almost 1 million AIDS orphans.
The social and economic repercussions
are devastating and are reversing hardwon
gains in development and rolling
back the child survival gains made since
independence. Kenyan studies show
that there is a nine-fold increase in
the risk of death for HIV-positive
children compared to HIV-negative
children1 and approximately 50%
of HIV-positive children die before their
second birthday. In the event that
the mother dies, there is an eight-fold
risk of death of an infant irrespective
of HIV status.
Mother-to-child HIV transmission is
responsible for most HIV infections in
children. Babies can become infected
during pregnancy, labour, delivery or
through breast-feeding. Services for the
prevention of mother-to-child transmission
(PMTCT) were introduced on a pilot
basis in 2000. Lessons learnt from this
pilot were used to initiate the national
programme in 2001 and today more
than 759 facilities provide PMTCT
services. The increased number of
health facilities offering PMTCT
services means that the number of
pregnant women counselled, tested and
offered treatment has progressively
increased from just over 1000 in 2001
to over 265 000 in 2004, 22% of all
pregnant women.
It is estimated that 60% of pregnant
women visiting antenatal clinics now
receive HIV counselling and testing.
Nevirapine uptake at antenatal clinics
is estimated at 38% and tere has been
good progress towards achieving the
national target of providing PMTCT
services in at least 80% of all facilities
offering antenatal care by 20072 .
A Prevention of Mother to Child
Transmission Technical Working Group
was set up in early 2000 by National
HIV/AIDS and STD Control Programme
to guide the Government and the
Ministry of Health on mainstreaming
PMTCT services. The national PMTCT
programme, launched in August 2002