Monday, November 23, 2009

Know Yourself


A door to door campaign drive to encourage the people of Kenya to get an HIV/AIDS test has started. There is a large resistance in Kenya to receive an AIDS test, this is because even taking the test can be considered being sexually promiscuous. However many people are dieing because they do not know that they even have HIV and are not receiving the proper medication to fight the disease. Their goal is to reach 1 million people and have them be tested in hopes to catch some of these diseases that are going untreated and to lift the stigma that is attached to getting tested. If they reach the goal of 1 million people it would be a significant increase to the 700,000 that have come since the clinic's program was installed in 2004. Currently in Kenya about 7-8.5% of the adult population is HIV/AIDS infected, however because many do not get tested the numbers are not the complete total. This campaign, called Jitambue Leo or 'Know yourself', will hopefully help those who need it and allow others to relieve the social stereotype of getting tested.
-Sara Frodge
Source: BBC News