Kenya has had the highest rate of new HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa for the last ten years, as revealed by a new report.

According to the study: The Global Burden of Disease 2015 published in the lancet Global Health  journal, In 2015, 95% of  new HIV infections, 75·4% of new cases, were in sub-Saharan Africa, with large proportions in western, southern, and eastern sub-Saharan Africa.

“Kenya shows an increase in annual new infections from 60 000 in 2005, to 146 700 in 2014”, says the report putting the country among those with a prevalence rate of more than 2·5% of the entire population.

Remarkable progress has been made in curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. HIV incidence reached its peak in 1997, and HIV deaths have been declining since the mid-2000s.

The first case of HIV in Kenya was detected in 1984, and by the mid-1990s it was one of the major causes of mortality in the country putting huge demands on the healthcare system as well as the economy. HIV prevalence peaked at 10.5% in 1996, and had fallen to 6% by 2013 mainly due to the rapid scaling up of antiretroviral treatment (ART).

In May this year, another report listed aids as the biggest killer and cause of disability among young people in Kenya.