Kenya is among the countries with the highest numbers of people living with HIV and Aids. In 2011 nearly 62,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in Kenya, an estimated 1.6 million people are living with HIV while about 1.1 million children are believed to have been orphaned by AIDS. In 1999 the government declared AIDS a national disaster.

Kenya has however been putting up a fight to control the Aids epidemic and according to recent reports the numbers of those affected by the virus has dramatically reduced to around 6.2 per cent of the population, something that has been attributed to an increase in education and awareness as well as access to ARVS.

In November last year, a report by the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) applauded Kenya for being among six African countries that have recorded a distinctive drop in new HIV infections in children. The number of children newly infected with HIV is said to have decreased by 40 per cent in the last two years.

KENYA LAUNCHES AN AIDS TRAINING INSTITUTE

In a further effort to step up the fight against HIV/AIDS, the first ever institution set to offer professional training on HIV/Aids programme management has been launched.

As reported on The Standard on Tuesday, the NGO training institute at the St Paul’s University, Nairobi, is modeled on a capacity building initiative designed to build the organizational and institutional capacity of HIV and Aids civil society organizations (CSOs). The institution is a partnership of St Paul’s University, the National Aids and STI Control Council (NACC) and the Kenya Aids NGO consortium.

The courses offered cover mentorship, leadership, governance, financial and project management, fund raising, monitoring and evaluation.

One of the objectives of the 2009/10-2013/14 Kenyan National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan (KNASP III) is to have health systems deliver comprehensive HIV services. Having such an institution in place will go a great way in having qualified personnel for the effective management of sustainable HIV/AIDS interventions.