Read Information about GENDER AND HIV/AIDS PROGRAMME

Under Gender and Hiv/Aids Programme, KSEI has in the last Ten years been involved in awareness creation, sensitization and behavior change advocacy focusing especially on women and youth empowerment as the most vulnerable group.

HIV and AIDS has major economic and social impact on individuals, families, communities and on society as a whole. In Kenya, as in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS threatens personal and national Well-being by negatively affecting health, lifespan, and productive capacity of the individual; and critically,by severely constraining the accumulation of human capital, and its transfer between generations.Research across many

severely affected, low income countries clearly demonstrates that HIV and AIDS is the most serious impediment to economic growth and development in such countries. Several studies have suggested that HIV and AIDS undermines development across all sectors of the economy and society, though further research is required to quantify the impact. Major challenges include:

1)  The productivity of the agriculture sector, upon which the majority of Kenyans rely for their livelihood, is undermined by negative impacts on the supply of labour, crop production,agricultural extension services, loss of knowledge and skills and at a personal level the trauma associated with death.  Consequences include reduced household and community food securityand decline in the nutritional and health status of smallholders and their families.  Commercial agriculture, a major source of employment and foreign earnings, is detrimentally affected by increasing health costs as well as protracted morbidity and mortality of key workers. 

2)  Educational services suffer as teachers are lost to AIDS and children drop out of school as parents die and household incomes fall.  The health service loses trained staff and has to cope with the increasing burden of HIV-related infections.

3) The direct cost and social problems associated with caring for increasing numbers of orphans,coupled with existing high poverty levels place severe burdens on family and societal structures. In addition to these direct effects on production and social services, there is a growing realisation that HIVand AIDS may undermine the long-term revenue base of the economy, and so reduce Government’s capacity to provide the infrastructure and social services essential for long-term economic growth.