Addressing Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease
Syndrome in children is a significant global challenge and Kenya is not an exemption. Thus,
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status of infants should be determined soon after
birth due to the fact that infants with HIV often develop immunodeficiency symptoms
rapidly and can acquire life threatening opportunistic infections early in life. Besides this,
the mortality rate of HIV infected infants is higher as compared to non-infected children. It
is therefore important to quickly identify HIV infected infants to begin HIV care and
management including anti-retroviral therapy and opportunistic infection prophylaxis. This
will ultimately improve the infant’s quality of life, prolong life span and decrease infant
mortality rate. To address this challenge in Nairobi County of Kenya, children born to HIV
infected mothers were recruited from Prevention of Mother to Children Transmission
clinics within Nairobi, their demographic factors recorded, blood sample collected on Dried
Blood Spot and transported to Kenya Medical Research Institute –HIV laboratory for
diagnosis using Roche Amplicor HIV-1 Deoxy Ribonucleic Acid Test. The generated data
was stored in MS –Excel, presented in graphs and charts, and analyzed using SPSS
software. The pediatric HIV prevalence in Nairobi which has been lacking was determined
to be 10.6%. Gender was significantly (p value= 0.05) associated with vertical transmission.
Determination of HIV status provided useful information for care of infants born to HIV
infected mothers. Those diagnosed positive were considered for initiation of anti-retroviral
therapy upon meeting the Ministry of Health criteria. The prevalence data in association
with demographic factors helped in necessitating and implementing policies that strengthens
the prevention of mother to child transmissions.