Kenya

The situation for children

HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact on children and their families in Kenya. Each day, 700 people die from AIDS and it is estimated that about 1 million children – out of a population of 30 million – have been orphaned by the disease. About 500,000 Kenyan teenagers, the majority of whom are girls, are HIV positive and will not reach their 30^th birthdays.

Lack of awareness and education about the disease continues to fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS. Cultural taboos around sex-related subjects prevent information being passed on to those who need it, especially young people and children.

A holistic approach in Meru

The Meru district in Kenya has the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the country. The presence of the disease is compounded by inaccessible drug treatments and a lack of knowledge in the community.

Save the Children's Total Care Project works to address HIV/AIDS in the following four ways:

establishing community support groups to educate those with the disease on ways to minimize infection. In turn, these groups work as a means of encouraging communication within communities on the presence and effects of HIV/AIDS.
working with local organisations to develop guidelines for caring for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, ensuring that children are properly cared for in the event of the death of their parents.
increasing accessibility to drugs and viral treatment through local government agencies and further education on nutrition and supplementary feeding requirements.
establishing micro-projects in the local community to help alleviate crippling economic poverty in households. Nutritional problems are rife in poverty stricken households and the project aims to lessen the number of nutrition related visits made to hospitals.

Child rights clubs

Save the Children has established Child Rights Clubs in 106 primary and secondary schools across Kenya. Part of the role of the clubs is to raise awareness and educate about HIV/AIDS. Children come together to discuss and learn about the disease under the leadership of a specially trained staff member.

The children take their messages to the wider community by composing poems, drama and songs about HIV/AIDS and compete against other school clubs in theatre competitions attended by the public. The top clubs from each district have formed a mobile HIV/AIDS awareness theatre group, travelling to remote areas during school holidays to teach their peers about HIV/AIDS.

Clean water and sanitation

Save the Children has recently completed a project with Kenyan women, which resulted in the greater awareness of, and access to, clean water and sanitation in their local communities.

The project, located in the poverty-stricken region of Tharaka, worked with 15 women’s groups to build and maintain giant concrete water jars that collect rain water through pipes connected to the roofs of their homes. The jars, which can store over 3000 litres of water, addressed health concerns resulting from the women (and children) previously collecting water from nearby unsanitary rivers that hosted diseases such as cholera.

Save the Children also facilitated the construction of new concrete-based latrines in Tharaka, which are designed so that the concrete slabs can be moved to a new excavated site when necessary.