By GATONYE GATHURA
Kenya: Somali and Mijikenda women make the most faithful wives according to data covering a 19-year period, with their chastity having been rewarded with low rates of HIV infections.
On the other hand, the data gleaned from seven national studies including five Kenya Demographic Health Surveys, shows Kamba women and Kikuyu men are most likely to have the highest number of sex partners in their lives.
In the first study ever done in Kenya to explain the different HIV infection rates among various ethnic groups, researchers from Belgium, South Africa and the US show the more amorous a community is, the higher the HIV infections.
Published on Friday in the journal Plos One, the data says the Somali, both men and women with an HIV prevalence of about two per cent, are most likely to start sex late, have fewer sex partners in life and are less likely to engage in sex for pay.
The authors say the Luo in Nyanza, on the other hand, with an HIV prevalence of about 22 per cent, are likely to be involved in multiple risky sexual behaviour.
Such behaviour includes sex before marriage, more partners in life and casual sex, partially explaining the high HIV infection rates in this community.
The authors intimate that there are fewer virgin girls or young women among the Luo compared to the Somali or Mijikenda who engage in first sex much later in life. Among the two communities, sex before marriage was found to be much rarer than in most other Kenyan ethnic groups.
Inter marriages
If, for example, the Somali were to export their chastity to the rest of Kenya through inter marriage, it could change the HIV infection trends. Unfortunately, Kenyans are shown to be poor at intermarrying.
Almost 95 per cent of Kenyans, even in cosmopolitan Nairobi, are married or have sex partners from their ethnic communities.
Only the Taita from the Coast region are most likely to marry into other ethnic communities. The study led by Chris Richard Kenyon of Belgium grudgingly says male circumcision may be a significant factor in the high HIV prevalence rates in Nyanza but not the only determining factor.
The Luhya, for example, have a slightly higher circumcision prevalence than the Kalenjin, but a HIV prevalence more than double that of the Kalenjin, according to the authors.
Likewise, the prevalence of HIV is nine times higher among the Luhya than Somalis despite similar circumcision rates.
“Therefore, while circumcision plays a major role, it is likely that other factors contribute to group differences.”
Among the Luhya, the study says, almost two-thirds of women believe it is alright for a man to have extra-marital affairs, something which could aid the spread of HIV.
Worried about wide regional variation in HIV prevalence, the Ministry of Health in a strategic plan has singled out five of the most affected areas for special attention.
Highest HIV infections
These, according to the Director of Medical Services Nicholas Muraguri, are Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya, Migori and Kisii in that order. The five counties also have the leading number of deaths linked to HIV illnesses.
Counties with the lowest HIV infections are Wajir, Tana River, Marsabit, Mandera and Garissa.
The new study suggests that current HIV strategies centred on drugs and male circumcision may not be enough and more effort needs to be put into behaviour change.
“While the roll-out of medical male circumcision and anti-retroviral treatment are major components of the HIV prevention strategy in high prevalence areas such as Nyanza region, interventions to reduce risky sexual behaviour should be prioritised,” it says.
This is in contrast to current action by the US Government, the main funders of the HIV control programmes in Kenya.
Arguing that behaviour change activities are less important at the moment, the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) has cut funding for such activities.
PEPFAR, which contributes about 90 per cent of the country’s Aids funding, has reduced contributions by about Sh74 billion ($69 million), saying it will be funding what it calls core activities.
he core activities include purely biomedical products such as medicines, condoms, male circumcision and testing kits. In the last two years, the only item for which PEPFAR has increased its budget is treatment.
Source: Standard Digital
