SOTENI's Strengthening Girl’s Access to HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Commitment
Commitment description:SOTENI's Strengthening Girl’s Access to HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights commitment aims to strengthen girl’s access to HIV and sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) programs in rural Kenya. There is significant lack of these programs targeting adolescents and youth in Ugunja sub-county, Siaya County, Kenya, where SOTENI Kenya works. Challenges facing such programs include cultural beliefs surrounding sex, especially among the Luo ethnic community; some parents believe that talking openly about sex with their children is taboo, and therefore the issues of HIV/AIDS and SRH are rarely, if ever, discussed. Moreover, many parents are either uninformed or misinformed about these topics, and do not feel obligated to address these issues with their children. Instead, most parents have surrendered these responsibilities to their children’s teachers or church leaders in the community.
SOTENI's commitment is to reach 2,500 vulnerable girls ages 15- 24, by 2023 with evidence-based, age-appropriate information on sex, STIs, family planning, and reproductive health through forums led by our trained community health worker (CHW) and Community Health Nurses (CHN) cadre. To improve access to services, the CHW and CHN will also share information on existing adolescent-friendly reproductive health services, and provide linkages to these services. The CHW and CHN teams will also engage girls’ caregivers for training on how to discuss sex and reproductive health. Through this commitment, SOTENI Kenya aims to ensure access for adolescents to comprehensive and age-appropriate information, education and adolescent-friendly comprehensive, quality and timely services to be able to make informed choices about their sexuality and reproductive lives, to adequately protect themselves from unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS, and to be able to transition safely and happily into adulthood.
Mode of engagement:
- Programmatic actionSOTENI's Strengthening Girl’s Access to HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Program
Achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health as a part of universal health coverage (UHC)(4) Access for all adolescents and youth, especially girls, to comprehensive and age-responsive information, education and adolescent-friendly comprehensive, quality and timely services to be able to make free and informed decisions and choices about their sexuality and reproductive lives, to adequately protect themselves from unintended pregnancies, all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices, sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, to facilitate a safe transition into adulthood.
