Sunday, January 31, 2010

Kenya and IDU

Exciting news out of Kenya. In its third National AIDS Strategic Plan, the Kenyan government has pledged to "ease restrictions on programmes that work with drug users and other at-risk groups whose behaviour has been criminalized".

The plan states, “Sex work, homosexuality and drug use are illegal in Kenya, and attempts to de-criminalise them have faced significant religious and cultural resistance among the population. However, based on new evidence, KNASP III will work with all most at risk groups and seek innovative ways to reduce HIV transmission. Programmes have been working with all these groups for many years, but under constraints, which KNASP III aims to alleviate systematically.”

This is a major step forward for harm reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya has one of the largest IDU populations in the region and barriers to working with the population have made programming difficult.

PSI continues to seek expansion of its IDU work into Africa. African platforms interested in IDU programming can access the "IDU in Africa" page on Kix and contact the IDU technical team to learn more on how to begin working with this key population.

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