September 2021, marked the end of a five-year Daraja project. To celebrate the project, LVCT Health, Nairobi County health officials and other partners came together to take stock of the milestones made in transforming the lives of key population, adolescents, young girls, and women into better and equipped people.
Funded by the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the project helped increase access and scale-up of comprehensive, evidence-based HIV prevention and care and treatment interventions for the key and priority population to reduce their risk behaviors, new HIV infections, HIV mortality, and morbidity in Kiambu and Nairobi counties.
In Kenya, these populations are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection due to certain risk behaviors, discrimination, stigma, human right abuse, -all which contribute low or lack of access to health services.
Speaking during the event, Dr. Lillian Otiso, the Executive Director, LVCT Health, commended the team for their efforts in improving access to comprehensive health for the key and priority populations in the target counties.
”One thing I must say is that, even as the project comes to a close, LVCT Health will continue to deliver quality health services as we have been doing over the years. The project’s achievement is a testament that effective and sustained partnerships is a remarkable progress towards epidemic control in Kenya,” said Dr. Otiso.
Over the life time of the project, LVCT Health supported more than 70,000 individuals and key populations, with a number of interventions and significantly transformed their lives. The event was graced by cutting of a cake and awarding ceremony for the outstanding performers. The gifts were a collection of handmade crafts from the project’s Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) beneficiaries who also took the opportunity to show case some of their products from skills gained from the project’s vocational trainings.
The event was graced by Dr. Ouma Oluga, the Director of Health Services (buy ventolin online), and representatives from the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) among other partners.