SCORA TWAWEZA- ZERO DISCRIMINATION

Name of the activity: SCORA TWAWEZA- ZERO DISCRIMINATION

Country/NMO: Kenya (MSAKE)

Program: HIV/AIDS & Other STIs

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign. Combination of education and advocacy. Campaigns create awareness in society about a certain topic (education aspect) and try to funnel this awareness into pressure on the decision makers to adapt policies accordingly (advocacy aspect).

General description:

Stigma and discrimination against PLHIV are obstacles in the way of effective responses to HIV more so by health workers. The stigma and discrimination by healthcare workers creates shame among PLHIV and influences their decision making process and stops them from accessing voluntary counseling and testing, care support and treatment services. It increases their depression and lowers their self-esteem decreasing their adherence to antiretroviral therapy and increases the risk of them transmitting HIV to others. Understanding the

extent of stigma/ discrimination and the underlying causes is necessary for developing strategies to reduce them. Our project will not only help us analyse why, if at all PLHIV face discrimination in the healthcare sector, but will also train medical students to change this perception and empower PLHIV in various communities.

Focus area:

Removing stigmatization and empowering people living with HIV

Problem statement:

Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV by healthcare workers

undermining the fundamental rights of HIV positive individuals including the right to health and freedom from inhumane or degrading treatment.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS

Objectives and indicators of success:

To critically assess, identify and effectively tackle factors that lead to stigma and

discrimination by Kenyan medical students against people living with HIV/AIDS

(PLHIV) as well as raise communal awareness on discrimination.

Objectives:

 To critically assess factors leading to discrimination against people living

with HIV/ AIDS by Kenyan medical students.

 To give medical students a chance to see things from the other end of the

spectrum by holding an engaging forum between the future health care

workers and people living with HIV.

 To raise awareness in the community concerning discrimination of people

living with HIV/ AIDS.

 Ultimately, to reduce discrimination among the future medical

practitioners and the community at large against people living with

HIV/AIDS.

Methodology:

Theoretical survey/ analysis to determine the extent of discrimination faced by PLHIV through the use of questionnaires.

Training of medical student volunteers in a workshop with facilitors’ panel consisting of policy makers and PLHIV

 Awareness walks to raise awareness among the community living in the respective regions.

 Visit to PLHIV support groups in Kisumu. This will be an interactive session

between volunteers and support group members to provide insight into

their plight and together, come up with possible solutions to curb

discrimination.

 Online campaign on SCORA and MSAKE social media platforms with the aim of raising awareness on the best ways to curb discrimination.

 Medical students’ sensitization on issues of discrimination against PLHIV

sessions across the country, in all 9 medical universities under MSAKE

with the aim of getting more students across the country to get involved

in the 2nd phase of the project, community outreach in schools or youth centres.

Plans for evaluation:

1. Pre and post evaluation: Questionnaires will be administered to

the members attending the workshop to measure impact of the workshop.

2. Report writing: Evaluation of achievement of our objectives will

largely be done using reports sent by lead volunteers from each

university.

3. Financial audit: This will be done internally by the treasurer in the

working group at the end of every phase and externally by the

MSAKE Finance Officer at the end of the project.

4. SWOT analysis: At the end of the every phase of the project, the

working group will spend its last meeting by analysing the outcome of

the entire activity through SWOT systems. This will enable us to

remodel the next phase to address the short comings identified in the

preceeding phase.

5. Collection of feedback: This will be done largely through word of

mouth from support group chairpersons, questionnaires

administered to volunteers, medical and high school students and

reports from our lead volunteers.