Using the power of soccer to fight HIV/AIDS

As the 2016 European championship football extravaganza is stealing the show by entertaining and attracting the eyes of almost every football fan in this world, the new Skillz Kenya HIV football league is also attracting and taking care of the health of young lads and the communities in various fields of Eastlands, Nairobi Kenya, thousands of miles away from France the host nation of Euro 2016. The spiced up league, consists of 20 teams of ages 16-20 years who are also taken through HIV/AIDS awareness drills with all fields supplied with boxes of free condoms for pick-ups and distribution as well as flyers with usage information. The gist of the Skillz football league is that winners will not only be determined by the points garnered but also completion of Skillz Kenya HIV interventions by players and distribution number of condoms under the ‘Tujikinge Mtaani’ (We Protect ourselves in the neighborhood) campaign drive by participating team coaches to various youth football clubs, groups and entertainment joints.VAP monitoring and evaluation team will develop a well-defined monitoring system that would track the details of the whole exercise of condom distribution. Skillz coaches would also back up the exercise before the league ends by spending one day distributing condoms to various targeted youth joints, groups including youth football teams who also feature in both lower and upper football leagues of the Kenya Football Federation while teaching them on the proper usage of condoms. The whole exercise is aiming to distribute over 10,000 condoms by the end of the Skillz Kenya football league all in alignment with the UNAIDS, Geneva February 2016 call for 20 billion condom distribution by 2020 and Skillz Kenya’s aim of changing the behaviors of Kenyan youth with the ultimate goal of a reduced HIV infection rate in Kenya.

One of the innovative ways that may help break down barriers to testing is the approval of HIV self-testing kits, recently approved by theWHO and in Kenya through the ministry of health. As an organization with a track record of arming itself in the fight against HIV by using the power and the popularity of the game of football ,VAP in partnership with Medical University of South Carolina has been in the forefront of utilizing the oral-self testing innovation by administering a series of pilot research on football and oral-self testing during Kick ‘N’Test VCT football tournaments targeting participants over 14 years and community members at large. This research study has received a funding boost from Medical University of South Carolina through the Centre for Global Health (CGH), which will go towards supporting various pilot studies and the Kick N Test VCT football tournaments to be conducted in different communities around Nairobi. This study aims to: 1) assess HIV testing behavior at the Kick N’ Test VCT community football tournaments: 2) assess perspectives of the tournament attendees on HIV testing, self-testing for HIV, and HIV risk behaviors: 3) assess the number of HIV positive individuals attending the football tournaments, and estimate the proportion who would be interested in a group approach to improving treatment access and adherence: 4) identify cultural and religious barriers to practicing safe sex behaviors. The results of this study are expected to inform future research into improving access to care for HIV positive individuals and the feasibility and acceptability of HIV self-testing among HIV negative individuals, and serve as evidence of the effectiveness of VAP program in improving HIV testing rates as well as identifying specific needs in the population.