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.