MHRP and local governments and organizations provide PEPFAR-funded HIV prevention care and treatment services in Kenya's South Rift Valley Region. They have launched a mobile clinic to provide HIV testing and counseling, linkage to care, and referral for comorbidities like tuberculosis. Ben Karia, a member of the Maasai tribe in Narok County, describes the impac the mobile clinic has had on this community in his own words:
“This boma (village) is a home for our people; we have been born here, lived here, educated here, and it is a culture that we really value. It is the numbers of people in this boma that attracted the mobile clinic; anything that is good and new first comes to this boma, and we are really happy that PEPFAR and the Narok County government found it valuable to bring the integrated mobile outreach program here…
When the mobile clinic first came here one year ago, I became the first beneficiary. I got tested for HIV and it was negative. Once I knew my status, I was taught how to take care of myself and my family, to prevent getting HIV. We were very happy as a family, once we knew we were HIV negative. At the same outreach, some of my neighbors tested positive for HIV, and they were started on antiretroviral treatment. They are now healthy and well, and they are still in the boma.
"The mobile clinic and the integrated program has brought services to our boma that we would not have access to otherwise, and it is a godsend opportunity for us. For anyone who is not able to reach the health center, the health center now comes to us."
Transformative TB testing and treatment
Before the integrated mobile clinic, we used to take TB patients to Tanzania. It it took six months for treatment, they had to stay there until six months had lapsed and you finished your treatment, and then you could finally return home. Some would come back, and some would not. If you died there, you were left there.
The other option was to go to Narok County referral hospital, which is about 120km from here and was a really difficult journey because the roads were not paved. It was hard for somebody to look for the transportation to go there, because you also had to take another person with you, and it was so difficult and expensive that people would postpone seeking treatment.
The most impactful outcome for me is the control of TB we now have in our village… a number of us had TB before, and we were spreading it and infecting one another within the boma. However, for one year now, we have not had any cases of TB, courtesy of this integrated mobile clinic…
For those who were diagnosed with HIV and TB, they were connected with the local health clinic and given medication, and now none of them are sick. If someone fails to come to the health center to collect their drugs, the clinic brings them here… so right now you would have no idea who is on treatment for HIV, or who is on treatment for TB, because everybody is healthy, and we are so happy about it…
We are very happy and impressed with the mobile outreaches, because it has given us good help… so we really pray that it will not come to an end anytime soon, but that it will continue.”
Reporting and photos by Sarah Day Smith