I attended a burial on Monday. The man got married in 1988. In 1989 he started experiencing intermittent illness. This continued until 8 December 2009 when he died. Nowhere on the program, or during the service did anyone mention what ailed him all of those years. I never knew him, and cannot say what illness he had, but I have a good guess.
Do his four children and his wife know what killed him? Have they been tested? Will the children grow old enough to have their own lovers and pass the same virus to their sexual partners? How far will the lineage of this transmission extend through their social network?
Eight percent of the Kenyans that know their HIV/AIDS status have the disease. One out of 12.5. Those are the ones who know their status, what is the percentage amongst those who do not know?
Testing is free, but not very many Kenyans get tested. Some get tested once, but few get tested every time they have a new partner.
I do not know what killed this man, but even if he did not die of AIDS the burial could have been for one of the many AIDS victims in Kenya and it would have gone the same.
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