Our Work in Kenya
Kenya is one of the most popular destinations in Africa for westerners, drawn by the country’s rich culture, spectacular wildlife parks, relatively easy accessibility and—until recently—political stability. Violence that followed the 2007 elections left about 1,000 dead, hundreds of thousands displaced and the nation and its people reeling. But Kenya also hosts a quiet killer: HIV/AIDS. With one of the world’s highest HIV/AIDS infection rates, an estimated 1.5-2 million Kenyans are infected with the virus—among the highest in Africa.
International Medical Corps has more than a decade’s experience working in Kenya, much of it at the center of the battle to contain the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We currently administer two large HIV/AIDS programs. One of them is a multi-sector effort in the western province of Nyanza, Coast Province and Nairobi Province to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of the HIV/AIDS virus. The second is a five-year program tracking infection rates in the country’s prisons. We are also engaged in the fight against tuberculosis with a TB screening and treatment program in areas outside the capital, Nairobi. TB is the most common opportunistic infection among those weakened by HIV/AIDS and is so often found among HIV/AIDS victims in Kenya that many view a positive TB diagnosis as confirmation of HIV/AIDS. We also operate three emergency nutrition programs for drought-stricken populations in northern and coastal Kenya, where livelihoods have also been hit by a spill-over effect of unrest in neighboring Somalia.