KISUMU, Kenya - U.S. Senator Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, publicly visited a clinic and took AIDS tests Saturday in Kenya, where fear and social stigmas have slowed progress in fighting the disease.

Senator Barack Obama (C) and his wife Michelle take a HIV-AIDS test inside a mobile clinic in Kisumu August 26, 2006. [Reuters]

Thousands of people gathered around the tiny mobile clinic in Kisumu, western Kenya, while Obama was tested in an effort to draw attention to Africa's AIDS epidemic.

"If you know your status, you can prevent illness," said Obama, the only black legislator in the U.S. Senate. "You can avoid passing it to your children and your wives."

Among Kenya's 32 million population, some 1.2 million people were infected with HIV as of 2004. Relief agencies say the national infection rate is 6.7 percent.

Obama and his wife did not make public the results of their test, but said "we probably wouldn't be smiling" if the results were bad.

Police held back crowds anxious to see the U.S. senator and son of one of their own. Local politicians appealed for calm as Obama visited the clinic, run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

Some 700 people die each day from AIDS-related illnesses in Kenya, most in the west of the country, though the numbers of infected patients have declined recently.

In the Kisumu area, almost one in five is infected.

Obama said the country's government has done a better job than many others in Africa of acknowledging the problem and discussing solutions. But people's reluctance to be tested has slowed progress.

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