Fighting HIV/AIDS Under the Stars:
Moonlight VCT in NEP, Kenya

It’s conventional wisdom: for community outreach to work, workers must go to the community.

When the task is raising awareness of HIV/AIDS and encouraging community members to participate in voluntary counseling and testing (VCT), it is critical to find those communities--and locales within communities--where high risk practices are taking place.

In Northeastern Province, or NEP, Kenya, HIV/AIDS prevalence is low (1.3% versus 7.4% for Kenya nationally), but on the rise. Raising awareness and educating the public--increasing understanding of how the disease is spread, how transmission can be prevented, and what infected individuals can do to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy--is a key step towards stopping the spread of the epidemic.

However, in such a socially and religiously conservative region, fear of stigma is often a strong barrier to activities related to HIV/AIDS. Identifying appropriate places and times can be as important as the activities themselves.

Staff members with the APHIA II (AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance) Project have discovered that it is when the stars come out that they can often do their best work.

VCT in the Moonlight

APHIA II NEP HIV/AIDS Counselors, Benja Wambua and Ken Anangwe provide VCT at night in Northeastern Province, Kenya.

In order to reach high risk populations, APHIA staff members plan their activities when and where these populations gather. This often means at night and at bars and other locations where sales of alcohol and miraa (or qat), a type of amphetamine, take place.

Counselors bring a tent and create a temporary worksite, providing counseling, education and testing in a convenient--and discreet--environment.

David Adriance, director of the APHIA II NEP project, says, "It's more confidential than walking into a VCT centre in the daytime. And it's a way
for us to strategically target our resources."

It's just one of many ways that the project is working to improve the health of the communities
in some of the most remote areas of East Africa. 

 

 Visit the APHIA II Kenya website for more information about this project.