Project TEACH-Kenya

In 2010, HIV/AIDS accounted for up to 29% of all deaths and 24% of all disabilities in
Kenya. There is a particular need to concentrate HIV education, testing, and linkage-to-care
efforts among high-risk adolescents; by age 18, 47% of women and 58% of men have had sexual
intercourse. Only one in four young Kenyans used condoms the first time they had sex, and
only half of 15-24 year olds had comprehensive HIV knowledge. The goal of this intervention,
Project TEACH-Kenya, is to adapt two proven HIV interventions, Project BRIEF and STEP, to an
urban setting in the Kasarani District of the Nairobi Province, Kenya. According to the US
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Five-Year Strategy, a successful
prevention program brings together a combination of evaluated, tailored interventions, to
stem the spread of HIV infection among high-risk populations. This synergistic model,
referred to as combination prevention, serves as the basis for adapting the current
intervention encompassing HIV testing and counseling, risk behavior reduction programs, and
linkage to care and ART initiation to the Kenyan context. Project TEACH-Kenya will develop
tailored, theory-based educational videos, linkage procedures, and a tailored prevention
program for adolescents 13-18 years old and pilot and test the intervention at St. Francis
Community Hospital, a high volume community-based hospital in Kasarani. The majority of
adolescents that access St. Francis's services are orphan and vulnerable children affected
by HIV/AIDS (OVC-HIV) who are disproportionately poor and malnourished and are at increased
risk for acquiring HIV, stressing the need for this intervention. The outcome of this
project will be a feasible, evidence-based, cost- and time-effective program to improve HIV
education and increase testing and linkage-to-care rates among adolescents in Kenya.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Women and minorities will not be excluded from this research study. We will include
only adolescents ages 13-18 at time of recruitment in this study, because that is the
age group that we are targetting for this intervention. Residents must be of the St.
Francis Hospital catchment area

Exclusion Criteria:

- Over the age of 18 and under the age of 13. Unable to understand the consent process
for the study; or otherwise unable to consent to HIV testing.