As the last candle signaling World Aids Day flickered out in Nairobi, church leaders in the East African country said they were energised by new statistics showing that HIV infections had dropped by 4 per cent over a two-year period. "This is commendable, but we ask the government to do more. We don't want to lose any more people through AIDS," the Rev. Peter Karanja, provost of All Saints Anglican Cathedral told Ecumenical News International in Nairobi after the 1 December events.
Kenyan churches have stressed behavioural change as a means for rolling back the pandemic, and felt their efforts were paying off following the drop in HIV prevalence from 10 per cent of the population in 2003 to 6.1 per cent of the 33 million people in 2005, according to government statistics.
"We see a movement and commitment towards safer and protected sex," Karanja said.
The Rev. Wellington Sanga, the conference secretary of the Methodist Church of Kenya, said that pastors, at the urging of their seniors, had often been spending at least five minutes talking about AIDS before delivering sermons. "This has been crucial in the fight," said Sanga, noting that a total revolution in behaviour patterns might take some time. "But Kenyans have a lot of information on the pandemic."
The official percentages masked the overall statistics which showed a backdrop of 3 million infections overall. About half those infected are said to have died.
Andre de la Porte, a United Nations Development Programme representative, said Kenya could lower its infection rate further, if people aged between 15 and 24 were targeted to use condoms but abstain from casual sex and engage in behavioural change.
Kenya's Standard newspaper on 2 December quoted a report saying that Cameroonian Roman Catholic cardinal, Christian Wiyghan Tumi, has approved the use of condoms as a protective measure against the scourge, but only for married couples. It said Mombasa Archbishop, Boniface Lele, caused a storm when he supported a similar view.
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