Health officials in Murang’a county have raised the red flag over the rise in HIV/Aids prevalence rates among  teenagers.

County executive officer for health Joseph Mbai said yesterday about four  per cent of  teenage mothers in the area had tested positive for the virus. 

“We have put those who have tested positive under medication and we are working closely with community health workers to monitor them from home,” he said. 

Mbai attributed the spike in numbers to irresponsible sexual behaviour among young people where they have unprotected sexual encounters with multiple partners. 

Non-disclosure

He pointed out that most of the teenagers were born in the 90s when the HIV pandemic was at its peak and the ones who are positive fail to disclose their status to their partners.

“This is the biggest challenge we have. These young people won’t disclose their status and have more than one partner,” said Mbai. 

He said the county shall embark on a programme to have the teen mums educated on how to take care of themselves and their unborn babies.

“We shall do a lot of sensitisation to ensure they deliver in hospital to help curb the risk of disease transmission,” he added.

He also revealed that only 50 per cent of the people with HIV positive status were under a medication programme.

“We have about 32,000 people living with HIV, but only 16,000 are on record and under a medication programme,” Mbai said.