The fight against the deadly HIV virus is threatened in Marsabit County because protective plans have been compromised.
And the county Governor’s wife Alamitu Jattani has called on residents not to stigmatize those infected by the HIV/Aids but to instead give them support to cope with the situation.
The county is grappling with an acute shortage of condoms, a crucial protective sexual device against the virus as the ministry of health has not replenished stocks that got exhausted several months ago.
The county director of public health Hassan Halakhe also said that the region was grappling with a shortage of testing kits in its health facilities.
Mr Halakhe who was speaking during this year’s World Aids day celebrations held at the Marsabit stadium said condom dispensers both at health facilities and social places in urban centers across the county had run out of stock.
The same fate has befallen all the 120 health facilities in the county as they have all run out of testing kits.
Mr Halakhe said that family planning commodities are procured and supplied by the ministry of health because of safety and standard concerns.
He disclosed that Marsabit County has a HIV prevalence rate of 0.9 per cent with 2,877 people living with the disease.
The county recorded 89 new HIV positive cases last year against the national figure of 2,000 over the same period.
The disease, according to the director, has claimed 44 people out of which 2 were adolescents this year adding HIV related illness also killed 4 children aged between zero and 14 years while 258 children of the same age bracket were living with the virus.
The Governor’s wife who graced the occasion advised on upright morals saying it was disheartening that 193 adolescents were living with HIV in the county while 64 pregnant and lactating mothers have the virus as per last year statistics.
She termed the trend as worrying and called for concerted efforts to reverse the trend even as she challenged the devolved administration to come up with a policy and a budget towards HIV, teenage pregnancy and gender based violence (GBV) programmes.
Ms Jattani cautioned against female genital mutilation and GBV against women and asked relevant authorities to be firm in their duties to ensure perpetrators of the vices are punished.
The function also attended by the Marsabit Central DCC David Saruni saw women members of the county assembly (MCAs) led by nominated MCA Saadia Araru pledge to back any bill presented to the house in support of victims of HIV Aids and GBV.
A spot check at lodgings, bars and other social joints in Marsabit town revealed empty condom dispensers with the workers saying they could not clearly remember when they were last replenished.
