By Manuel Odeny, @TheNyanzaNews
Nyanza counties have 4,535 Men Having Sex With Men (MSM) with Kisumu county accounting over half of them among six regional counties, a research has said.
The research “Programmatic mapping and estimating the population size of FSW, MSM, PWID and transgender populations in Kenya”— was published in the Gates Open Research journal.
The research was collecting data from Key Population, section which stands at higher risk of contracting and getting affected by HIV and Sexual Gender Based Violence.
Across the country, the research found that 32,000 as men who have sex with men while more than 167,000 Kenyans identify as female sex workers.
The new count also found the country has 16,063 individuals who identify as people who inject drugs, and 10,951 transgender people.
This is the country’s second major estimate of the national count of sex workers and gay people. The first was conducted in 2012.
Researchers who took part in the study were drawn from the National Aids and STI Control Programme, the Key Population Consortium of Kenya and Partners for Health and Development in Africa.
Others are Global Health Program of the University of California San Francisco, and the Institute for Global Public Health, University of Manitoba, Canada.
“Comparing the size estimates of KPs from 2012, we have noticed a 26 per cent increase in the overall estimated number of Female Sex Workers (FSW) (133,675 to 167,940) and a 76 per cent increase in Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) (18,460 to 32,580), while the number of People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) has decreased from 18,327 to 16,063,” the researchers said.
The study, conducted between January and March 2018, covered 34 counties, among them six Nyanza counties of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii and Nyamira.
In Nyanza the study found 4,535 MSM with Kisumu having 2,292 MSMs which accounts for 55 per cent of the figure.
This is the full breakdown:
- Nyamira 107
- Kisumu 2,492
- Siaya 663
- Migori 559
- Kisii 462
- Homa Bay 252
