Kenya
Strengthening Community Responses to AIDS Through Livelihoods Initiatives
Where:
Kenya
Who:
CHF, WEM Integrated Health Services (WEMIHS)
Funded by:
CHF and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
Purpose:
To bring self-sufficiency to vulnerable households in Thika and Maragua districts in Kenya.
Situation:
At 9.1%, Thika's high rate of HIV/AIDS is fueled by the large number of migrant workers attracted to nearby factories.
Community responses to the disease focus on home-based care, which unfortunately is not sufficient to ensure the nutritional and medical needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. Neither does it address the need to earn an adequate income.
Grandparents, with few resources, end up caring for children orphaned by the early death of their parents. Families in the rural areas surrounding Thika town are vulnerable to increasing poverty, the loss of assets such as livestock and poultry, to food insecurity.
Results:
CHF is working with the local AIDS service organization WEM Integrated Health Services (WEMIHS) to integrate sustainable livelihoods into their health work with communities.
Serving the people of Thika and Maragua districts, CHF and WEMIHS works to provide alternative sources of income and improved food production to a population primarily dependent on casual labour and contract farming for their livelihoods.
The project also works with people living with HIV/AIDS, who are often forced by stigma and lack of alternatives to migrate from their rural homes.
The project is supporting 16 community groups to plan and carry out livelihoods activities such as horticulture production, basket-making and dairy processing. The groups also receive training in business management and HIV/AIDS awareness.