The Tungari Youth Project

On Tuesday morning we visited a volunteer run mobile HIV testing service on the fringes of one of Kisumu's slum's.

Tuesday 7th July - Morning

On Tuesday morning we went off to meet my host, Shamsia Nuru, who volunteers for a HIV testing organisation. The Tungari Youth Project is a mobile HIV testing service. Each day 6 stations are set up on the fringes of Kisumu’s slum areas and people voluntarily arrive to be tested. Shamsia told us how it was often difficult to encourage people to come to be testing, a combination of fear, shame and lack of awareness means that the testers (there are around 5 at each station) usually fail to meet their target of 10 tests a day. Shamsia and her colleagues are all volunteers, they are trained on how to use basic testing kits and how to counsel those who test positive and give information to those who test negative on how to stay infection free. The results are almost instantaneous and those who test positive are referred to a doctor immediately so that they can begin treatment as soon as possible. The testing kits are very expensive, it costs over 1000 Kenyan Shillings (about £10) to test each person. The money is raised by a charity in Atlanta in the USA.

At present around 300 people are tested each day across the 6 stations, so far they have tested around 35% of the population, they aim to increase this to 80% by the end of 2010, they need more money. HIV is a huge problem here, it spreads rapidly because of prostitution, the tendency for men and women to have polygamous marriages, the lack of awareness about whether one is infected or not, the reluctance of men to use condoms and the generally low levels of personal hygiene. There is a campaign at the moment for males to be circumscribed as this reduces the chance that they can contract and pass on the infection, it is a difficult campaign because men do not like to do it. The traditional methods of circumcision sound brutal, they involve a machete, a big stone and a lot of blood. These methods are still in practice in some rural areas around Kisumu but men are now given the opportunity to have the operation using modern hygienic methods.

Last week Shamsia and her colleagues has been on a course to train them in how to go door to door in the slums to try to encourage people to take tests in the privacy of their own homes. I'm sure this will make a big difference to the amount of tests they can get done. It is sure, however, to be much harder work for the volunteers, but they seem to be a determined and committed team so I am hopeful they will succeed and make a big impact on the lives of the people of Kisumu.