Diferencias en los tratamientos recibidos

The targets and indicators for MDG 6 are as follows:

Target 6a: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Indicators for progress:

 HIV prevalence among 15-24 year old pregnant women.

 Condom use at last high risk sex

 Proportion of population aged 15-24 with comprehensive, correct knowledge on HIV/AIDS

 Ratio of school attendance of orphans to school attendance of non-orphans aged 10-14 years.

 Number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

Target 6b: Achieve by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who

need it.

Indicator for progress:

 Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs.

Target 6c: Have halted by 2015 and began to reverse the incidence of malaria and other

major diseases.

Indicators for progress:

 Incidence and death rates associated with malaria.

 Proportion of children under five sleeping under insecticide treated bed nets.

 Proportion of children under five with fever who are treated with appropriate anti- malaria drugs.

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 Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short (DOTS) course.

The prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in Kenya dropped from 20-30% in the 1990s to 13% in 2000 to 6.7% in 2003 for the age group between14-49 years. However this rate went up to between 7.4 and 7.8% in 2007. The cause for this is because this group is prone to high exposure and condom use among youth engaging in high risk sex was quite low (25.4% for females and 46.8% for males ). It is estimated by the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) that 1.2 million people in Kenya are infected with HIV/AIDS and that about 85,000 die every year as a result, leading to over 2.4 million orphans. The number of orphans due to HIV/AIDS rose from 27,000 in 1990 to this current figure (Government of Kenya 2005, pp.22 & 23). Due to the magnitude of HIV/AIDS prevalence and the resulting consequences for Kenya´s growth in all aspects of development this MDG has received a lot of financial support from the government and donors.

The number of people on antiretroviral drugs (ART) increased from 2000 in 2003 to 140,000 in 2007. At least about 68% of the nearly 570,000 people in need of ART were receiving it by end of June 2010 according to the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP). According to the Kenya Aids Survey preliminary report of 2007, 97% of those eligible for ART in the 15-64 year bracket could not access ARTs since they do not know their HIV status. When it comes to HIV awareness, 98% of the population is well informed according to NACC.

HIV/AIDS continues to be a challenge in Kenya. Some of the challenges that the country is still grappling with include the caring for the high number of those infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and the increasing number of orphans to the current 2.4 million as a result. More new cases of HIV infection continue to be registered. The high number of infected people has caused increased bed occupancy in hospitals with 50% of patients in public hospitals being hospitalized as a result of HIV/AIDS related complications. There are limited services such as access to ARTs for the majority of those infected. Sexual abstinence or delay as well as condom use among the youth has also been reported to be low. There is also increasing use intravenous drugs among the youth. All these factors place the youth at a higher risk of HIV infection. HIV still continues to be a taboo issue in Kenya and as a result

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many do not get to find out about their HIV status or if they know it do not seek medical help such as access to ARTs to avoid being discriminated as a result. High reliance on donor funds to address HIV in Kenya leads to uncertainty concerning future financing of HIV/AIDS activities (Government of Kenya 2010, pp. 71 & 72). As a result, the government has still to increase its efforts in terms of areas such as policies, strategies and financing in order to be able to address these challenges especially in view of the attainment of the MDGs and vision 2030.

It is important to note here that MDG 6 has seen support from the national level to the grassroots where all stakeholders have been actively involved in adapting it among the other MDGs in their activities as indicated below:

“Successful implementation of the MDG related interventions requires an all- inclusive participatory engagement acceptable and approved by all stakeholders. In this context, holding of stakeholders’ consultative forums both at national and sector levels will continue as these have proved to be an important avenue for mobilizing action. Nationwide dissemination and sensitization meetings on MDGs for stakeholders in all the provinces have been held to ensure that dialogue is enhanced around the MDGs both at the grassroots and national level and that MDGs get priority in all development initiatives.”

(Government of Kenya 2010, pp. 70 & 71) When it comes to malaria, the mortality death among those with malaria has been on the decrease. This can be attributed to the government´s effort such as providing insecticide treated nets (ITNs) as well as introducing the drug policy of using Artemisinin combination Therapy (ACT) to address the problem of resistance to Sulphadoxine Pyremethamine (SP) based malarial drugs. As a result the number of under five children sleeping under a treated net has increased (Table 7).

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Table 7: Number of children sleeping under mosquito nets

Source: KDHS 2003 MIS preliminary report as quoted in Government of Kenya (2007, p. 28)