Fishermen doing fishing in L. Victoria in Kisumu// Photo Courtesy
Fishermen operating from the beaches along Lake Victoria in Kisumu West, Kisumu county have been taken through a marathon sensitization on behavioral change so as to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS .
Magnam Environmental Network CBO chairman Michael Otieno told The Nyanza Review on Sunday that the sensitization was prompted by Kisumu county’s HIV/Aids prevalence which is the second highest at 17.5 percent in the country with an incidence of 6.9 cases per a thousand persons according to the National Aids and STI Control programmes.
The National Aids Control Council states that lack of awareness of HIV status, failure in linkage to Anti-retro-viral (ARVs) drugs and behavior change factors are the key potential drivers of HIV transmission in Kisumu county.
The key beaches where the sensitization has been has been carried out are Nawa, Pombo and Ngege among others.
“Another factor that had pushed us to embark on the sensitization of the fishing community was this uncultured behavior of sex for fish which must have contributed to the high HIV and AIDS prevalence rate in Kisumu county that has reached an alarming level,” said the network chairman.
The CBO chairman at the same time said that the sex- for-fish issue has not only put the lives of the fishermen at risk but it has also led to family breakup thus emphasizing the need on the part of the network to redouble its effort in sensitizing the fishing community on behavioral change.
