According to a proposal under consideration by the Ministry of Health, if you end up in a hospital with any injury you are subject to mandatory HIV testing.
As at now, there are no such requirements for trauma patients in Kenya, notwithstanding the risk both patients and health workers face.
Besides the Constitution of Kenya 2010, considers mandatory HIV testing unlawful unless otherwise.
Moreover, experts at the ministry, Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenya Medical Research Institute have confirmed that most patients at the accidents and emergency departments willingly agree to be tested for HIV.
The specialists also recommended HIV testing to patients at KNH between March 2, 2021 and May 25, 2021.
“When offered, acceptance of HIV testing in the population was high, both in the emergency department and inpatient care venues,” their report stated.
In the results, a higher percentage of those who turned out were positive. The numbers were even higher than in the national average.
Experts say this is not surprising as data from sub-Saharan Africa have shown that patients in for injury treatments have high chances of contracting HIV and often get their first diagnosis during emergency care evaluations.
“A new diagnosis of HIV was found in 11.4 per cent of emergency department-tested participants,” a report read.
The tittle of the report is; “Assessment of Standard HIV Testing Services Delivery to Injured Persons Seeking Emergency Care in Nairobi, Kenya : A Prospective Observation Study.”
Furthermore, the general HIV prevalence in Kenya is about 4.6 per cent.
Accident and emergency departments receive patients who present without prior appointment. According to evidence from the Ministry of Health in Kenya, most of these patients are victims of road accidents and falls.
“Kenya experiences substantial injury burdens which also disproportionately occur in groups highly affected by HIV,” the report states.
These particular injuries are usually common among populations with greater probability of contracting HIV. For instance: Young people, Persons Who Inject Drugs, men who have sex with men and sex workers.
“The majority of participants strongly agreed that HIV testing services should be provided during emergency care and that aspects of the environment and care interactions are suitable for emergency department-based testing,” the experts said.
Also, in Kenya women more women go for HIV testing than the men, thus, the prevalence of women which is 6.6 per cent doubles that of men which is 3.1 per cent.
The National Aids and STIS Control Programme in 2021 said thousands of Kenyan men are living with HIV but are unaware of their status.
The researchers q interviewed and tested 114,776 men for HIV in Kenya and 12 other countries and found large numbers of them who had HIV and did not know it.
Most of the men who were oblivious of their HIV-positive status said they had never been tested for the virus before. They accounted for 63 per cent.
Recent studies show that almost 72 per cent of Kenyan women had tested for HIV in the past 12 months and received their results, compared to 45 per cent of men.
The JAIDS study says that targeting men at risk of infection could improve the yield of testing programmes.
