HIV declines in Kenyan county

New HIV infections among adults in Kenya’s Siaya County have dropped by half since 2011, The Standard reports. An analysis of data from repeated household surveys involving 30,000 people in the subcounty of Gem, published in The Lancet, shows that new HIV infections declined from 11.1 per 1,000 person-years in 2011-12 to 5.7 per 1,000 years in 2012-16. The percentage of 15- to 34-year-olds living with HIV also fell by one-third. These declines occurred at a time when ART coverage among HIV-positive Kenyans increased from 7 percent to 57 percent and male circumcision prevalence in western Kenya, where Siaya is located, rose from 45 percent to 72 percent. In a commentary in The Lancet, Nelson K. Serwankambo of Makerere University writes that “although the declines did not reach the estimated threshold for HIV elimination of one case 1,000 person-years, the findings indicate positive progress and that elimination is possible” (The Standard, 11 April 2018).