Why Women?
We came together to give support to one another because we were experiencing rejection, stigmatization and discrimination as a result of being affected or infected by HIV & AIDS recalls Dorothy Onyango, co-founder and now Executive Director. In addition, many of their spouses had died and they were faced with the burden of supporting their families alone. Around Africa and in Kenya, women and girls are at the highest risk of HIV infection. UNAIDS reports that new infections is increasing more rapidly among young women aged between 15-24 yrs than their male counterparts. Some of the contriburting factors to the above scenario is because:
- They are powerless in decisions to have sex or use a condom.
- Women who are married and faithful to their husbands are at risk of HIV infection as their husbands might have extra marital affairs and neglect to use a condom or get infected through injecting drugs.
- They may experience violence in their relationships with men that result in unwanted or coerced sexual intercourse. 20 – 25% of women report that their first sexual experience involved physical force.
- Women and girls have greater biological susceptibility to HIV infection. Male to female transmission of the virus is twice as likely as female to male. Tear and lesions, resulting from forced sexual encounters, increase the likelihood of HIV transmission, especially among young women and girls.
- Women and girls face social and economic inequities that reduce access to education, prevention and treatment services and increase the likelihood that they will marry at a young age.
- Poor girls are often unable to access education which decreases their access to productive employment.
- They are often denied the protection of property and inheritance rights.
- A young woman’s HIV infection or death of husband may leave her without a home and unable to support herself and children.
- Without job skills – or the opportunity to acquire skills- women and girls may resort to commercial sex to provide for themselves and their families greatly heightening the risk of contracting HIV virus.
WOFAK ventures into the fields of care, support and behavior change, a critical gap continues to be seen in the area of sustainable livelihoods for young women and widows both affected and infected by HIV & AIDS. Much as many community interventions are trying to mount responses, it is evident that many of the strategies do not address the critical aspect of long term welfare, empowerment and sustainable livelihoods for young women affected by HIV & AIDS. The holistic approach to care for women affected by HIV & AIDS, in our opinion should address the economic livelihoods, survival and self reliance of women living with and affected by HIV & AIDS, especially in urban slums where disparities always compromise on prevention of infections and re-infections for many of the women.
In this intervention, being implemented in WOFAK Korogocho resource centre, primarily targeting young women living within Korogocho, Kariobangi and Kasarani slums of Nairobi, we are implementing an economic empowerment project which not only looks at the emotional aspects of living with HIV & AIDS but also and more profoundly, enhancing the capacity of young women living with HIV & AIDS to generate incomes from small business enterprises. In this intervention, we have zeroed into the capacity building of women in skills of managing small businesses and have followed by provision of small start-up funds to enable them initiate small business enterprises for self reliance and better livelihoods. Our prevention, treatment, care and support interventions include:
- Community behavior change and advocacy sensitizations
- Counseling and emotional support
- Nutritional support
- Orphan and vulnerable children care and support
- Medical care
- Trainings for community capacity enhancement