Train AIDS Vaccine Researchers in Kenya

Summary

Women are especially vulnerable to AIDS, both socially and biologically. Doctors and technicians doing AIDS vaccine research need to be trained on sensitivities of dealing with the disease in women.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Improving awareness of gender and sexuality issues is crucial to ensuring that an effective vaccine is available and acceptable to all vulnerable groups. KAVI plans to train approximately 400 healthcare providers a year. The providers will be selected from the five provinces in Kenya where HIV vaccine work is being done. This will require 10 to 15 workshops of 3 days, each over the course of the year.

How will this project solve this problem?

Gender training includes gender sensitization, meaning of gender, impact of gender on health, health-seeking behavior, utilization of services, impact on decision making, gender as it impacts sexuality and HIV prevalence.

Potential Long Term Impact

Training healthcare providers on the importance of gender will reduce stigma, which is especially severe for women. Providers will understand women's needs to give them better care. It will also have important implications for HIV vaccine trials.

Project Message

Gender issues raise important challenges in HIV/AIDS prevention and control. Understanding and addressing these challenges is key to the success of HIV research.
- Professor Jeck Ndinya-Achola, Co-principal investigator, KAVI

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources