Dokita operates in Kenya from January 2017 through a collaboration project with the local NGO WOFAK, which for more than 20 years work actively for the prevention, support and integration of women infected with HIV.
Dokita has in Kisumu and Siaya, two provinces of Kenya that record the highest incidence rate of HIV virus and rate of poverty in the country. The designs falls in the main objective of combating social exclusion of people who live in conditions of poverty and marginalization, promoting greater inclusion and a full enjoyment of the main human rights.
| Beneficiaries : | Main donors |
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In many countries of the african continent still today women live in a state of dependency and vulnerability. a state seropositive considerably aggravates the already precarious condition, bringing them to face violence, marginalization and stigma.
The Kenya represents the 4° country in the world for the magnitude of the epidemic of the HIV virus. According to a survey conducted in 2012 in this country, in fact, about 1.6 million people are carriers of the virus and about 57,000 died for diseases linked to it. The first case of HIV was diagnosed in 1984 and already around the middle of the nineties became the main cause of mortality in the country, causing increase tremendously quickly and the request for an improvement in the efficiency of the health system, as well as economic. Despite the impact of the virus has decreased in recent years, its devastating effects are still evident, especially among the female population.
Today 65% of HIV positive people in Kenya are women and girls and the incidence of the virus in women is approximately double with respect to that in men. This strong discrepancy is explained by the biological vulnerability, social, cultural and economic situation of women which increases the probability of being infected.
The main factors that perpetuate this condition are:
A high level stigma and discrimination and violence against women with HIV:
culturally women who live these areas may not possess goods, consequently live under an authoritarian control of their husbands. In addition, when the husband of an HIV-positive woman dies, other relatives come into possession of the inheritance leaving the widow in misery. Finally, HIV+ mothers are usually physically and sexually abused by their husbands, doing collapse dramatically their self-esteem and possibility of reaction.
A low entrepreneurial knowledge and financial capacity:
Many of these women do not know how to be able to undertake an economic activity in an independent manner and how to make it profitable, dedicating themselves accordingly to agricultural activity with low margins.
A restricted access to financial credits:
Women are unaware of the existence of financial institutions that offer facilities devoted to them and the few that are aware of that encounter structural barriers which make it difficult to access to credit.