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Kenya on course to achieve "AIDS-free" status by 2030: official

Xinhua, April 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Kenya is on course to achieve an "AIDS-free" status by 2030, an official said on Tuesday.

Nduku Kilonzo, the director of the National Aids Control Council, said at a forum in the capital Nairobi that Kenya ranks among African countries that have made "tremendous progress" in containing AIDS, which affects 5.6 percent of the Kenyan population.

"We are on course to ensure HIV/AIDS will no longer be a public health challenge by 2030, and given the current political stewardship and increased financing, that feat is achievable," Kilonzo said.

Kilonzo said that besides doubling budgetary allocation to HIV/AIDS programs, the Kenyan government has also supported county-led interventions to fight the epidemic.

"We are focusing on evidence based interventions to halt new infections among high risk groups that include adolescents, sex workers, truck drivers and migrant laborers," Kilonzo told policymakers and campaigners.

Kenya will send a delegation to attend the UN General Assembly's high level meeting on HIV/AIDS due in June.

Kilonzo said the Kenyan delegation will lobby the international community to support Kenya's ongoing programs meant to reduce new infections and fatalities linked with the AIDS virus.

She also said: "We are looking at integrating HIV/AIDS treatment with our health insurance scheme." Endit