Some stakeholders in the campaign against HIV infections among adolescents have devised a youth-friendly approach to increase services for curbing the disease.
The strategy focuses on counseling, testing, and treatment for the target group that is becoming vulnerable to the disease.
The stakeholders Zipline organization and Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF) in collaboration with Homa Bay government now take HIV preventive and curative services to the young people to social areas where they can take them up away from the health facilities.
Lead for Community Participation at Zipline Caleb Wanjala said the approach has enabled young people who do not wish to visit health facilities to access the services to get them with ease at social places.
Some of the services the adolescents access are reproductive health services or preventive services like condoms, and pre and post-exposure prophylaxis treatment.
Besides Homa Bay, the organization is operating in Kisumu and Nyamira counties
“The approach has enabled us to significantly fight the stigma that is usually associated with HIV. Stigma comes as disease is wrongly perceived as a death sentence to those infected,” Wanjala said.
Speaking when they marked World Aids Day at Ndiru stadium in Rangwe, Homa Bay County, Wanjala said the program is blended with what the young people like.
The services are taken to attraction places where the target groups meet professionals who offer them the education they need on various aspects surrounding prevention and care when one is infected or at risk of infection.
The counseling, testing, and treatment services are mainly taken away from conventional healthcare centers that are situated in hospitals to temporary social places where the young congregate.
“We usually hold football tournaments where they are actively involved. The games pull the targeted people to the various fields where they find the services,” he added.
Previously, the key stakeholders had to mobilize youths to meet in special social activities like sporting tournaments which they are exclusively hosted in private booths.
But in the new approach, Zipline delivers the required consumables like condoms, PEPP, and PREPP used in the prevention of contraction of the virus.
The organization uses drone technology to deliver the items.
“The drugs and other supplies stores are centrally stored and once an order has been issued, a drone is dispatched to airlift them from the warehouse to the facility where they are needed,” Wanjala said.
Rangwe Aids Control Coordinator Nancy Kulei and her Homa Bay counterpart Stephen Obunga said the number of adolescents that caregivers have been serving in the area is increasing due to the strategy.
“Initially, we could serve very few youths in our hospital settings. But given the new approach where we take the services to the people, we have had up to 90 times of the former visits,” Kulei said.
Obunga said Homa Bay has set itself on the trajectory of scaling down the infection rates due to the new approach.
Due to the increased uptake of HIV preventive and curative services, demand for crucial lab equipment like test kits for HIV and other screenable conditions like cervical cancer and pregnancy has also shot over the last six months the county has been offering the services.
"Homa Bay is scaling down the rate of HIV prevalence due to the new campaign's approach,” he said.
According to the needs assessed by the healthcare providers, Zipline delivers consumables that range from ARVs to condoms, blood, and water.
Through this initiative, the number of adolescents and youths attending the clinics for comprehensive care services has gone up.
Homa Bay Chief Officer for Health Kevin Osuri said the new approach has enabled the county to suppress infections among adolescents.
He argued that such partnerships have given them the impetus to increase awareness and scale down the spread.
"We have realized a decline of infection rates to 15 percent, down from around 17 percent that was recorded in 2021," Osuri said.
