Kenya is one of Africa's foremost tourist destinations with a warm and gracious people, but away from the famous coastline of Mombasa and the game parks, most Kenyans live in poverty and its people face numerous challenges.
According to the World Health Report for 2006, Kenya spends 4.3 per cent of its GDP on health, compared to 7.3 per cent in Ireland. One of the biggest health issues currently facing Kenya is the HIV pandemic with an estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV.
Trócaire support a number of voluntary organisations including Liverpool Voluntary Testing and Counselling (LVCT) in Nairobi. The organisation was set up in 1998 by a PhD student called Miriam Taegtmayei, to provide a set of workable guidelines by which to test people for HIV. LVCT has since partnered with the Kenyan government to help scale up quality assured counseling and testing services throughout Kenya. It has trained over 70 per cent of the counselors working in 815 testing centers in the country.
LVCT was set up in response to the HIV crisis - which was compounded by stigmatisation among communities. People were afraid to come forward to be tested for HIV because they would then be treated as outcasts. Breaking the traditional fear and shame of being HIV positive was an enormous challenge.
LVCT's Director of Services, Dr Ernest Nyamato, a specialist in infectious diseases, said that HIV testing was a massive problem that wasn't being addressed. "Only 15-20 per cent of Kenyans know their HIV status," he said. "The problem is under-reported." Clients can now walk in to any testing center where they can receive counseling, testing and results within 15 minutes, and where necessary, referral to a national hospital for comprehensive care and free antiretroviral treatment.
Another important aspect of LVCT's work was the establishment of 13 post-rape care units for victims of sexual violence. LVCT has helped set the national standards for post-rape care - in fact, Dr Nyamato wrote the guidelines for medical management of sexual violence that are now becoming standard practice in Kenyan hospitals and clinics.
In Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital, psychiatrist and trauma counselor Dr Ian Kanyanya and matron Sr Elizabeth Mukhisa have recently completed a training course for hospital staff about the management of sexual violence. Dr Kanyanya heads up the gender-based violence section in the victim support unit. With the help of LVCT, they have already trained 200 health care workers.
Sr Mukhisa, who has worked in the hospital for 23 years, said "I saw lots of women who had been abused. They were not cared for properly. Now the women feel most welcome and tell others to come because they have someone to support them."
In Kenya's Central Province, in Gatundu District Hospital, Matron Sr Kibuathi explained that in rural and impoverished communities sexual violence was a fact of life for many. "There's a lot of ignorance and lack of knowledge. Some women don't want to report what happens." With the help of LVCT the hospital has established a victim support unit and is reaching out to community leaders to educate them about the consequences of sexual violence and the risk of becoming HIV positive through sexual abuse.
While HIV/AIDS and sexual violence are facts of life in Kenya, the country is acknowledging its challenges and dealing with them in a professional and open way, changing structures in a way that will have an enormous impact in the years to come.
To contact Trócaire's press team:
Republic of Ireland
Meabh Jennings
Press Officer, Trócaire.
T: +353 1 505 3238
M: 086 277 6064
Northern Ireland & UK
David O'Hare ,
Press Officer,Trócaire.
T: 028 90 80 80 30
M: +44 7900053884