THE KENYAN government has agreed to introduce sex education in primary and secondary schools to check the spread of HIVAids among young people.

The decision brushed aside long-standing protest by church organisations that school sex education would increase promiscuity. Telling the church to be realistic, health minister Sam Ongeri said 500 people were dying daily from Aids.

In some towns, a third of 15 to 19-year-olds are infected, the minister said.

The government says it is spending more than 225 million Kenya shillings (pound;2m) daily on HIVAids-related diseases.

More than 50 per cent of beds in public hospitals are occupied by Aids patients. The number of Aids orphans has now reached 1m and is expected to rise to 2.5m by 2005.