Twelve months after the
launch of the Moonlight VCT strategy, its one-year anniversary was marked in Makindu town and a new component to it was launched – a late-night reproductive health clinic. On the same evening a night outreach activity took place that is part of the peer education component of the Moonlight strategy.
The clinic was launched in Makindu town at HWWK’s program site there, Makindu Centre of HOPE. 87 patients were treated in a free medical camp.
While dealing principally with STI cases, the clinic will also serve for minor ailments and in future will also offer family planning services, run a laboratory. Treatment is given at subsidized rate. Free VCT services are part of the package available at the clinic. Currently opening 6 days a week from 8 am to 10 pm, it is envisaged that the clinic will in time become a 24-hour operation.
Following a procession through Makindu streets and along the highway, the day was spiced by entertainment from the U Tena theatre group from Nairobi, local musicians and high profile recording artists, Mr. Lenny, Ousmane and Syd.
The Utena group performed a skit to encourage people to know their HIV status and also had a rousing traditional dance. Makindu youth also had a skit and a dance followed by a rap that advertised the variety of services at the Makindu Centre of HOPE. As Mr. Lenny, Ousmane and Syd took centre stage, youth and children pressed around excitedly and sang and danced along enthusiastically.
The audience thus energized, mobilized and sensitized, the invited guests spoke.
The Makindu District Officer (DO), Angela Wanyama, said, “People fail to get health services such as STI treatment because of lack of sensitization. HWWK is welcome to use community gatherings such as chief’s meetings and DO’s meetings to publicize its services.”
The District Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Ruth Muthama, said, “This clinic is a good idea, and especially because Makindu is along the highway, the clinic will be of great importance.” She welcomed HWWK to the Kibwezi District Health Stakeholders Forum.
Congratulating HWWK on the occasion and calling on all to avoid risky behaviour, the DO1, Mr. Charles Igiha, (deputy to the District Commissioner) said, “The STI clinic will help in the betterment of our lives.”
In a fashion and modeling pageant that evening in the town of Mtito Andei 50 km from Makindu along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway, sex workers and hairdressers who HWWK has trained in peer education and Behaviour Change Communication participated in a well-attended occasion. The goal was to reach the audience with information about reproductive health and also boost the self-esteem of sex workers while giving them a vision for life alternatives to sex work.
Partners who attended the event and contributed prizes were Nice and Lovely beauty products, Safaricom mobile phone service provider, Tsavo Inn and the exclusive Kilaguni Serena Hotel.
As Peter Chacha from the U Tena group pointed out, “If mobilization for the services is done seriously, the clinic will have an impact in the community.” With Moonlight VCT entering into its second year, the vision remains to reach, care for and serve all in order to have empowered healthy communities. With the opening of the reproductive health clinic, HWWK has moved a significant step closer to achieving that goal.
