Post date: Thu, Feb 22, 2018 | | Category: General | |
Ministry of Health estimates that over 1.5 million Kenyans are living with HIV by 2015 with the prevalence rate of 5.6% having declined from 5.7% a year earlier. Statistics on the prevalence rates show that HIV in Kenya is on the decline. The effort by the government effort to provide antiretroviral therapy is also being enhanced, for instance since 2000, the coverage has increased rapidly to over 60% by 2016.
In this week’s number of the week we examine the effect of introduction of ART drugs to HIV prevalence in Kenya. Is there any impact on HIV prevalence with the introduction of antiretroviral therapy?
The chart below is a scatter plot of prevalence of HIV, total (% of population ages 15-49) against antiretroviral therapy coverage (% of people living with HIV). The chart illustrates changes in HIV prevalence against changes in the ART.
Chart 1: HIV Prevalence against ART coverage
Source: World Bank –World Development Indicators
The chart reveals indirect relationship between HIV prevalence and ART. It shows that HIV prevalence has been declining exponentially with increase in ART coverage to HIV patients. In 2000, HIV prevalence was
10.2%, in 2010 the rate had reduced to 6.1%, while the latest statistic show that the rate is 5.4% in 2016.
Number of the week: 4.8 percentage points
In the advent of increased Non-Communicable Diseases such as cancer that require long time treatment, reduction of the Out-of-pocket payments is key in sustaining affordability and access to health care services. These can be achieved through increased insurance both by the government and the private sector.
Treasury bonds are a secure, medium- to long-term investment tools that typically offer periodic interest payments semiannually throughout the bond’s life. The Central Bank auctions Treasury bonds on a monthly basis, but offers a variety of bonds throughout the year, so prospective investors should regularly check for upcoming auctions. Outstanding Treasury Bonds increased by 11.2 per cent to Ksh 1,152,041 million in June 2016 from Ksh 1,035,662 million in June 2015.
In June 2016 compared to June 2015, the stock of Treasury bills increased by 84.4 per cent to Ksh 588,088 million from Ksh 318,929 million while the proportion held by commercial banks increased by 67.4 per cent to Ksh 361,859 million from Ksh 217,742 million. In the same period, holdings by pension fund institutions increased to 20.1 per cent from 12.8 per cent while proportion held by insurance companies decreased to 3.1 per cent from 6.5 per cent.
The medium term debt strategy for the financial year 2016/17 emphasized on the need to develop the domestic market by increasing the issuance of Treasury bonds over the medium term. The strategy targeted a mix of 60 percent and 40 per cent for external and domestic financing, respectively.
Trends in Kenya’s Total Domestic Public Debt Stock from 1999 – 2018 (In nominal terms) Source: Central Bank of Kenya The number of the Week: 2.1, this is the factor by which domestic debt has grown in the last five years. Domestic debt has nearly doubled in the last five years (2013-2018) Between 1999 and […]