Kamasengre East and West

Over the past 2 days we have visited various HIV women's support groups on the island. HIV affects all people living in this region, however women are particularly affected secondary to limited resources. In 2006, we searched for a support group in this region but failed to find one. Since that time, I found 2. They have organized a support system. The meet weekly, and discuss various issues they have encountered. The women also provide for one another if one is too sick to make food. They will pick up the medications for each other if one is too sick. We were given the opportunity to meet with these women and discuss various concerns they had. It took 1 hr to walk to one meeting and around 45 min to the other. I believe the women must walk farther. There are around 17 people in each group, and there must be at least 1 man in each group in order to register as a group in Kenya. We were given the opportunity to speak with them about various topics. We picked a few important topics:
1. Nutrition while on ARV's and with HIV
2. Sanitation
3. Clean water
4. Adherence to ARV medications
The women asked various questions.Many were asking about various side effects of the medications and we discussed this in detail. They are not given much education on the side effects of ARVs I am told.
One asked about disconcordant couples (the women having HIV and the man not) and how it happens. They were told it is a miracle and that those men are "special". Many men in these situations to not want to wear condoms, and the way it was translated to us was that many men feel as though they are "above the virus" and are untouchable.. They asked appropriate questions and it was amazing to see such a support system in such a remote region. The stigma attached to HIV is still present but I can see its diminishing effects because of such groups.

We had the opportunity to travel around with a community health worker, Pamela, hired by Kageno, to go out to the community. She gives various talks on HIV. She has 1.5yrs of training on community health and HIV and she now spends her days walking to various villages and fishing communities. She also visits those that are too sick to make it to clinic. We will visit many of those patient's on Friday.

In the future, Kageno plans to have a treatment center. This will cut travel time for many patients in this region. Most now travel over an hour to get meds each month. This is too far for many who are too ill to make it. Once the RN, Magdeline, gets government training, they will start the treatment program here at Kageno.