This project will build an adolescent-friendly clinic, in Eldoret Kenya, home to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the AMPATH consortium. This innovative center will improve the well being of youth through the provision of specialized programs focusing on reproductive health, HIV care, life skills, and mental health. This campaign aims to raise funds needed to enhance adolescent programming and renovate a building to create a welcoming and safe space to provide exceptional adolescent care.
Young people under the age of 20 make up 52% of the population in this region of Kenya and there is no adolescent health center they can access. Youth in sub-Saharan Africa are being disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic, and adolescent girls and young women are 50% more likely to acquire HIV than their male peers. By the age of 19, 40% of young women in Kenya are bearing children, without access to adequate care. Adolescents require services that are responsive to their unique needs.
Building a youth friendly and safe space will give 1000's of young people access to a non-judgmental, multidisciplinary healthcare team, with specialized reproductive health services and HIV care. With a large adolescent population in this region, the development of a specialized adolescent health center is crucial to provide the care they need.
Our goal is to become a leader and model of adolescent healthcare provision in this region of Kenya. We aim to build local capacity in a sustainable manner by providing a platform to educate future OB/GYNS, pediatricians, nurses, social workers and counselors on providing adolescent-friendly care. It is our hope we will reduce a number of unwanted pregnancies, increase sexual and reproductive health knowledge and care options, and prevent new HIV infections in young people in western Kenya.
