nacc charges government on msm hiv treatment

By Nanjala Majale (BTM Correspondent)

KENYA – 27 November 2008: Kenyan government dismissed reports that homosexuals in the country are being denied Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in public hospitals.

Government spokesperson Dr Alfred Mutua said the reports were baseless, and stressed that there is no government policy that denies anyone medical care.

“When you are sick, you are a patient and your sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. Your habits have nothing to do with it. If you’re sick, you get treatment”, said Mutua.

He continued that government does not have a category to exclude certain group of people.

The spokesperson was responding to a question by a journalist, who brought forth that men who have sex with other men (MSMs) in Kenya had written up to five protest letters to the government after being denied treatment at public health institutions.

Mutua was adamant that nothing of that allegation had ever occurred.

“You don’t go somewhere and say I’m sick and I'm a homosexual. Once you’re said to be in that category of being HIV positive you qualify for the drugs”, he maintained.

The journalist broaching the question did not give details on the reports, and efforts by Behind The Mask to verify the claims have been futile.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya and men who have sex with other men are often discriminated against by members of the public according to statute standing. Several establishments within Nairobi, mainly entertainment spots, go as far as barring anyone suspected to be of that sexual orientation from setting foot on their businesses.

The government has been providing free ARVs to HIV positive persons for more than two years, according to statute reports. And Action Aid in Kenya attested that, as of last year, more than 160 000 people are documented to have benefited from this.

Recently, Behind The Mask learnt that the National Aids Control Council (NACC) incorporated Kenyan MSMs into their prevention and outreach programmes after realising that they are a large vulnerable population in the country.

NACC executive director, Professor Alloys Orago, has defended that although homosexuality is still outlawed in Kenya, the government has a responsibility to feature MSMs in the anti-HIV and Aids war.

“The NACC cannot exclude the gay community in the war against HIV and Aids”, he explained, revealing that research and interventions in Kenya have largely focused on the heterosexual.

To the NACC, MSMs have been lumped together with intravenous drugs users and prison inmates as a population in Kenya of ‘epidemiologic importance’.

The gay organisations in Kenya including ISHTAR and GAY KENYA have lauded NACC’s initiative on policy writing. Their members have however said they’re not aware of the protest letters sent to the government regarding ARV treatment.