PROJECT
Highlighting Marital HIV Risk and Promoting Premarital Voluntary Counseling and Testing in Nyanza

Nyanza Province in Western Kenya has the highest rates of HIV in the country: 18 percent of women and 12 percent of men are infected with the virus. Child marriage is also relatively common in Nyanza: One-third of women aged 20–24 are married by age 18. The high prevalence of HIV combined with early marriage may render child brides particularly vulnerable to infection. Indeed, a study in Kisumu (the capital of Nyanza) found strikingly high HIV prevalence rates among married girls (33 percent) compared to rates among unmarried sexually active girls (22 percent) (abstract).

In collaboration with local partners and PATH, the Population Council mounted a large-scale educational campaign in Nyanza on the dangers of early marriage, establishing clubs for married girls, and promoted voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV among newly married couples or those contemplating marriage.

Few rural people in Kenya have access to television, but an estimated 70 percent of Nyanza households own radios. Because of this, radio is considered an excellent medium to reach a large segment of the population. Radio Ramogi and Radio Victoria, two of the province’s most popular local-language radio stations, are providing public service announcements about child marriage and promoting later, safer marriage as well as VCT for couples before marriage.

The Council also reached out to religious leaders in the community, equipping them with information to speak out about child marriage, and encouraging them to raise this topic in their congregations.

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Population Council researchers

Annabel Erulkar, Bentinck Ochieng

Non-Council collaborators

Rikka Trangsrud (PATH Kenya)

Kendu Adventist Hospital Home-Based Care Program

Radio Victoria

Ramogi FM Radio

UZIMA Foundation

Donor

US Agency for International Development (through the FRONTIERS program)

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