VOA News: Updated HIV Treatment Guidelines Pose Some Challenges for Kenya
“Kenya faces some challenges in implementing new guideline standards for HIV treatment recently announced by the World Health Organization. But HIV patients and others suggest there are still stigmas attached to the disease — both in getting tested for the virus and in taking antiretroviral (ARV) drugs as part of the treatment. … In September, the WHO revised its HIV guidelines to recommend that anyone who tests positive for the virus be given antiretroviral drugs immediately — a significant departure from the U.N. agency’s current recommendation that doctors wait to treat some people with HIV until their immune systems suggested they were getting sick. The National Aids Control Council said there are approximately 1.6 million people confirmed to be living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, but only about half are on ARV therapy…”(Ruvaga, 11/3).