SHOCKING TEENAGERS HIV STATISTICS

New HIV infections among teenagers are attributed to early sex. 20% of youths aged 15-24 years had sex for the first time before their 15^th birthday!!!  

I.         Nascop Statistics  

• 46% of all new HIV infections occur among age 15-24 years  
• There are a total of approximately 8.4 million young people 15-24 years in Kenya
• 270,000 teenagers and youth are living with HIV (the tested and recorded number)  
• More than 97 teenagers and youth get newly infected with HIV everyday
• Approximately 11 teenagers and youth die from AIDS related illnesses everyday
• 46% of young women (15-19 years) have never tested for HIV
• 58% of young men (15-19 years) have never tested for HIV 
• 51% of young people do not have comprehensive knowledge of HIV  

NB: Kindly note that a considerable percentage of the teenagers and youth living with HIV were infected at birth, while others were very unfortunately infected through horrific crimes like rape

II.       NACC Statistics

• HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death among teenagers and youth aged 10-24 years
• A total of 2,531 teenagers and youth in secondary school died in 2013; 2,398 between 10-14 years; 1,719 aged between 20-24 years
• 435,225 adolescents aged between 10-19 years are HIV positive; while another 119,899 have the virus but have not been identified

III.      MOH Data 

• 195,299 adolescents are on ARV treatment while 315,000 need ARV treatment
• Annual new infections among children 0-14 years is 12,511; while those above 14 years but under 25 years is 13,148  
• New infections attributed to early sex where 20% of youths aged 15-24 years had sex for the first time before their 15^th birthday
• The fastest growing risk factor for ill health in young people aged between 10-24 years in the past 23 years has been unsafe sex
• Despite the efforts being implemented to prevent Mother to Child Transmission of HIV, there are sadly at least 11,000 new infections in children mainly from infected mothers.

Panic, denial and resistance are NOT a solution to the looming disaster. We need immediate practical solutions to this problem, before things get way out of hand, which they already are.