KENYA: Sharing knowledge key to improving HIV/AIDS management

NAIROBI, 22 May 2006 (PlusNews) - In a bid to document and scale-up 'best practices' in HIV/AIDS, the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) in Kenya has carried out 16 case studies of HIV/AIDS programmes in four African countries over the past four years.

"We know that that there are a lot of success stories in the HIV/AIDS field, but rarely are they known within the country, and even more rarely are they shared across borders," said Daraus Bukenya, HIV/AIDS programme leader at the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) in Kenya.

The project was carried out in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

"We are suffering with similar problems and it's about time people learned what works," said Mwihaki Kimura, AMREF Kenya HIV/AIDS programme manager. "These case studies show home-grown solutions to our shared issues."

One such successful programme is a prevention and treatment programme run by Kenya's Moi University, which has incorporated traditional birth attendants - used by a majority of women in delivery - into the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programmes, and has started a 24-hour telephone hotline to reduce dependence on clinical officers and free them up for the most urgent cases.