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Doreen Moraa : My 28-year Journey With HIV/AIDS

Mercy Auma Mercy Auma

World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988. Since then, it is marked every 1st December yearly and is globally recognized with different themes addressing HIV/AIDS and people living with it.

Each year, different organizations come together to shed more light on the HIV pandemic, endeavor to increase HIV awareness and knowledge, speak out against HIV stigma, and call for an increased response to move towards ending the pandemic.

For this year, the 90-90-90- targets involved ensuring 90% of people living with HIV are aware of their status; 90% of people diagnosed with HIV are receiving treatment, and 90% of all people receiving treatment have achieved viral suppression.

Read: Zero HIV Prevalence In Garissa County, Highest Number Of Cases Recorded In Homa Bay – Report

According to the United Nations (UN) Statistics,12.6 million people living with HIV still don’t have access to treatment globally. With the COVID-19 pandemic, certain challenges have made it worse to attain the targets that had been set up.

The story of 28-year-old Doreen Moraa Moracha is that of strength, resilience, and positivity having openly come out as a person living with HIV/AIDS.

Doreen is among the few people in the country who have openly declared their HIV/AIDs status and are creating awareness through their platforms to impact society towards having a positive attitude on the same.

Doreen has lived with HIV for 28 years and has been on Antiretrovirals (ARVs) for 15 years. For her, she is is Greater than HIV hence the resilience to keep going.

Read Also: Court Awards Woman Sh500,000 for HIV Test Done Against Her Will

https://twitter.com/D_Moraa/status/1333637190061088769

https://twitter.com/D_Moraa/status/1307763203733164033

In Kenya, approximately 1.3 million people are living with HIV infection with the Western part of the country including Homa Bay, Siaya and Kisumu as the most affected.

In a report by Kenya Population-based HIV Impact Assessment earlier in the year, it was revealed that HIV prevalence is higher in women at 6.6% (95% CI: 6.0%-7.1%), compared to men at 3.1% (95% CI: 2.7%-3.5%).

In the survey conducted between June 2018 and February 2019, at least 139,000 (0.7%) children were found to be living with the virus.

The report also showed that Garissa County had no HIV prevalence while Homa Bay led at 19.6percent.

Read Also: Kiss FM’s Kamene Goro Under Fire For Posting HIV Status Results Online

Coming in a close second was Kisumu which stood at 17.5% while Siaya and Migori were at 15.3% and 13.0% respectively.

Nairobi was at 3.8%, Mombasa 5.6%, Nyeri 5.1%, Uasin Gishu 5.5%, Kajiado 4.6%, Turkana 6.8% and Kiambu 1.1%.

The lowest prevalence was recorded in the North-Eastern region, with less than 0.2% prevalence.

Consequently, a report released by the Ministry of Health in 2019 showed that 22 teenagers were getting infected with HIV/AIDS on a daily basis. It also showed that at least six adolescents were dying from the disease daily.

As we mark World AIDS Day today, it is important to get tested and know one’s status as well as create awareness so as to move towards the goal of tackling stigma as well as eradicating the HIV pandemic.

Read Also: Governor Sonko Sues The Star Over False HIV Positive Reports

Here are more Reactions from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DingileZikhona/status/1333639500355022849

https://twitter.com/tonie_walsh/status/1333557256860930049

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