Kakamega — A week-long campaign launched in Lurambi division in western Kenya this week aims to test 80 percent of the population for HIV/Aids, and to supply those tested with a package of items which will help them combat multiple health problems, including malaria, HIV/Aids and diarrheal disease.
The campaign, the Integration Prevention Demonstration, plans to gather information to help plan a national-scale intervention which would provide the supplies to every Kenyan who goes for an HIV test.
The supplies being given out from this week, valued at about U.S. $60 per packet, include a long-lasting treated bed net, condoms and a water purification system that does not require electricity or replacement for three years.
The supplies are donated by Vestergaard Frandsen, a for-profit private company which manufactures health care products. The company is sponsoring the campaign along with United States Centers for Disease Control contractor, CHF International, and the Kenyan Ministry of Health.
Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, chief executive of the company, said at the launch of the campaign that it was "rapidly scalable." If the testing scheme and provision of products is successful in Lurambi, the government can expand the program nationally to reach a national target of testing 80 percent of the country.
Government statistics show that in 2007, 78,000 malaria cases were reported in Kakamega district, which encompasses Lurambi. At least 13 children have died from cholera outbreaks and diarrheal disease there in the past year. One in 10 of Lurambi residents is estimated to be HIV positive.
Through the campaign, Vestergaard Frandsen seeks to show the need for donors and government agencies to treat major health concerns simultaneously.
Hundreds of residents lined up in long queues for testing early on the first official day of the campaign. In a interviews at the test site, Lurambi residents told AllAfrica they were grateful for the free supplies, but even more pleased finally to learn their HIV status.
Ed Okolloh, a teenage boy, said he had been feeling ill for weeks after learning that his mother was HIV-positive. "I have already lost three aunts and uncles to Aids. I'm now proud that I tested because I am no longer feeling stressed over my status. I want to tell others that testing will really boost your morale."
But he highlighted an important concern for many people living with HIV or Aids: "Once you know your status, if you are positive, you must find the drugs to treat it, and when you find the drugs you must take them with good food. We have a food shortage here, and this is perhaps the hardest part."
Another resident, Judith, age 48, works at home and on her husband's sugarcane farm. (Sugarcane is a major cash crop in the region.)
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"I have seven children," she said. "They were scared to come and test, but I think I can convince them. My husband came with me today. We have a serious problem here with Aids. When the men in our village get money from the cane, they become young again. They go out and drink at discos, and they bring home disease.
"I would like to be more vocal in my community, but it is hard because I am not originally from this district. I am an outsider, even though I have lived here many years. But I want to convince others to know their status," she said.
The campaign is providing on-the-spot CD4 counts for patients who test positive.
"We expect to find about 2,000 HIV-positive residents," said Eric Lugada, CHF International's medical director for Kenya. Vestergaard Frandsen said the campaign also seeks to prove the usefulness of decentralized CD4 testing equipment to help patients in rural areas determine what medication they need, whether it is anti-retrovirals, antibiotics or nothing at all. Not every patient needed antiretrovirals, Lugada said.
The demonstration is the first campaign in Kenya to deliver malaria, HIV/Aids and diarrheal disease prevention materials together.
