By Betty Luke
Isiolo county government and elected leaders have been asked to offer commercial sex workers with an alternative means of livelihood to help reduce new HIV/AIDs infections.
County Health Executive Wario Galma said majority of those in the business had no alternative sources of income exposing them to various Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
The government, Mr Galma said, should move with speed and introduce programs to benefit the group to enable them provide for their families and shun commercial sex work.
“The government should offer an alternative source of income to the young people so that we can reduce the rate in which they are engaging in immoral activities. Most of them are not to blame because they are only doing that to provide for their families,” said Mr Galma.
The official appealed to Non-Governmental organizations offering humanitarian aid in the county to join hands with the government in fighting HIV/AIDS.
Reports from the National Aids Control Council show that more than 3200 Isiolo residents are living with the disease with 226 being children.
The county’s HIV/AIDS prevalence is currently at 1.6 percent, a drop from 3.2 percent in 2018 while Mother to Child Transmission (MTC) rate in the county stands at 11.4 percent.
Poverty and high illiteracy levels have been blamed for the rising infections where majority of the patients fail to seek treatment for fear of stigmatisation.
County HIV/AIDS Coordinator Diba Galma said infections among women were higher at 2.3 percent compared to male currently at 1 percent.
