Speeches Shim
Last updated: July 09, 2021
In 2019, Benson was among 100 young people selected — who have demonstrated leadership in various fields — to participate in a four-weeks intensive training under the United States’ Young Afrian Leaders Initiative (YALI) Regional Learning Center (RCL) in East Africa. The YALI RLC offers training in business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership, and public management tracks.
Since people in hard-to-reach areas have the perception that modern contraceptives such as the birth control pill are impractical, the Turkana County Department of Health and USAID’s Afya Timiza program joined forces to introduce a simpler tool for spacing childbearing: cycle beads.
Siaya County is tucked against Lake Victoria in Kenya’s Northeast. The sprawling body of water - Africa’s largest lake - is a source of livelihood for many inhabitants, but also provides the perfect living conditions for mosquitoes. Malaria is the leading cause of illness and death in Siaya. In 2020, 546 out of every 1,000 people in the county were infected with malaria, requiring approximately $1.63 million worth of medicine for treatment.
USAID is proud and excited to announce that the work done by six of its implementing partners during the COVID-19 pandemic was recognized as PEPFAR Heroes. The award recipients were honored on December 2 during a virtual World AIDS Day celebration with the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter. The PEPFAR Hero Awards were given out by PEPFAR Kenya in recognition of people who, despite the pandemic, went above and beyond their call of duty to ensure that Kenyans living with HIV continued to receive antiretroviral therapy. Antiretroviral therapy is essential for people living with HIV to live longer, healthier lives, and maintain virologic suppression.
Lore, as he prefers to be called, was born HIV-positive. After his mother’s death, his older sister - ill of the same disease - raised him until she too died. She left him under the care of other siblings. Lore fell seriously ill at the age of 10 and tested positive for HIV. But his family was reluctant to inform him about his status, fearing the stigma he would be subjected to in school. After his schoolmates found his antiretroviral medication, they labeled him “the HIV boy.” “I almost quit school,” says Lore.
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.