NAIROBI, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health on Saturday launched a strategy to eliminate the triple threats of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancies, and gender-based violence that have reversed progress towards achieving the UN 2030 goals.
Susan Nakhumicha, the cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, reaffirmed the government's commitment to leveraging a host of policy and legislative tools to end new HIV infections, adolescent pregnancies, and gender-based violence.
"We have started the journey to eliminate the triple public health crisis of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancies, and sexual and gender-based violence in line with our commitment to national and international conventions," Nakhumicha said at the launch that was held in western Kenyan county of Bungoma.
Kenya has 1.5 million people living with HIV and more than 90 percent on life-saving drugs, according to Nakhumicha, who decried the high rate of infections among youth aged 15 years to 24 years. She reiterated the government's commitment to ending HIV/AIDS by 2030 by preventing new infections among high-risk demographics like youth and women alongside expanding access to life-long treatment.
In addition, Nakhumicha said the rollout of the Social Health Insurance Fund will ensure that antiretroviral therapy is affordable to persons living with HIV.
To help curb teenage pregnancies that have also been linked to new HIV infections, Nakhumicha said the government will leverage technology, grassroots campaigns, and access to modern contraceptives among adolescent girls. Nakhumicha said that investments in youth-friendly reproductive health services at the grassroots will be key to minimizing the risk of adolescent pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
She added that community health volunteers, cultural and religious leaders, and law enforcement officers will be engaged in the new campaign to end teenage pregnancies as well as gender-based violence.
"Digital tools will help us track and identify perpetrators of gender-based violence. Our criminal justice system should fast-track prosecution of offenders who include intimate partners to act as a deterrent measure," said Nakhumicha. ■
