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Participants march along Kenyatta Avenue in Nakuru during celebrations for World Aids Day on December 1, 2025. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]
New HIV infections among teenagers aged 15 to 19 in Nakuru County have risen to 8,563 over the past year. Last year, 3,586 adolescents tested positive, highlighting a significant increase.
County Aids and STIs Coordinator Rachael Kiuna expressed concern, noting that young people recorded the highest number of new infections and deaths. “I urge the youth to protect themselves by abstaining from sex or using protection to avoid contracting HIV. I also call upon them to get tested; this will help them know their status,” she said.
Kiuna attributed the rise to peer influence, group sex, and discontinuation of prescribed medications. “Contracting HIV/Aids is not the end of life; one can live long if they follow the health worker’s instructions,” she added.
Adolescent pregnancies among 10 to 19-year-olds have also increased, from 3,830 last year to 8,635 this year, with 42 per cent linked to sexual and gender-based violence. Nakuru County has over 51,000 people living with HIV.
Mother-to-child transmission has significantly reduced, from 15 per cent in 2019 to six per cent in 2025, thanks to early treatment and monitoring of newborns.
County CEC for Health Roselyn Mungai said Nakuru is now ranked ninth nationally, down from sixth in 2023.
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“The County has made substantial gains in diagnosis, treatment initiation, and in protecting mothers and children. Reducing mother-to-child transmission from 15.4 in 2019 to 6.1 per cent in 2024,” she said.
The CEC said that the health department has strengthened its responses through multi-agency Gender-Based Violence technical working groups and brought stakeholders together.
Mungai urged the Judiciary to expedite gender-based violence cases and called for school health clubs to integrate HIV prevention, life-skills programmes, and peer-led adolescent support groups to strengthen resilience and adherence.
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