{"id":28431,"date":"2025-12-01T20:58:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/?p=28431"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:42:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T06:42:03","slug":"siaya-commemorates-world-aids-day-records-major-progress-but-calls-for-stronger-domestic-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/siaya-commemorates-world-aids-day-records-major-progress-but-calls-for-stronger-domestic-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"Siaya Commemorates World AIDS Day, Records Major Progress but Calls for Stronger Domestic Financing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Siaya County under the department of health dejoined the rest of the world in commemorating World AIDS Day, bringing together key stakeholders and community health actors under the global theme \u201cOvercoming Disruptions and Transforming the AIDS Response\u201d and the National theme \u201cOne Goal, One Race \u2013 Ending HIV in Adolescents and Young People.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking during the commemoration, the County's Director of Public Health Dr. Kennedy Oruenjo highlighted Siaya\u2019s remarkable progress in combating HIV. The county\u2019s HIV prevalence has dropped from 26% to 9.8% as per 2025 estimates a notable improvement of prevalence in 2016 with 94,986 HIV people on treatment. He noted that the consistent decline reflects strong community engagement, improved medication adherence, and strengthened support systems.<\/p>\n

Despite these gains, Dr. Oruenjo emphasized that the HIV incidence rate remains high, especially among adolescents and young people\u2014an area that requires intensified focus if the county is to achieve epidemic control. Currently Siaya county teenage pregnancy stands at 21% and gender based violence at 24% factors that heighten vulnerability of HIV among our youths.<\/p>\n

\"\"During the commemoration, other tests like TB screening and free HIV testing services, free eye check up were done. Steve Kathaka, NSDCC Region 11 Kisumu & Siaya County raised a major concern over declining donor funding, stressing the need to expand domestic financing to sustain critical HIV programs. \u201cDomestic funding is now what the government is providing. Donors are reducing their support, so we must strengthen our own systems,\u201d<\/p>\n

To improve access to healthcare and reduce out-of-pocket spending, Dr. Oruenjo encouraged residents to register for the Social Health Authority (SHA) to benefit from outpatient services, while those seeking inpatient care through SHIF will be required to undergo means testing. This aligns with the government\u2019s broader push toward primary health care and financial protection for households.<\/p>\n

The commemoration reaffirmed Siaya County\u2019s commitment to ending HIV, especially among adolescents and young people, by strengthening partnerships, expanding access to services, and ensuring sustained community involvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Siaya County under the department of health dejoined the rest of the world in commemorating World AIDS Day, bringing together key stakeholders and community health actors under the global theme \u201cOvercoming Disruptions and Transforming the AIDS Response\u201d and the National theme \u201cOne Goal, One Race \u2013 Ending HIV in Adolescents and Young People.\u201d Speaking during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":28432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siaya.go.ke\/siaya\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}