Supporting adolescents living with HIV within boarding schools in Kenya

Adolescents and youth living with HIV (AYLHIV) are a uniquely vulnerable population facing challenges around adherence, disclosure of HIV status and stigma. Providing school-based support for AYLHIV offers an opportunity to optimize their health and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to evalua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 16; no. 12; p. e0260278
Main Authors:	Kose, Judith, Lenz, Cosima, Akuno, Job, Kiiru, Fred, Jelagat Odionyi, Justine, Otieno-Masaba, Rose, Okoth, Elizabeth A, Woelk, Godfrey, Leselewa, Solomon, Leendert Fraaij, Pieter, Rakhmanina, Natella
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 02-12-2021 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Acquired immune deficiency syndrome Adolescent Adolescents AIDS Biology and Life Sciences Boarding schools Children & youth Confidentiality Demographic aspects Education Families & family life Feasibility Female Health aspects Health care Health care facilities Health facilities HIV HIV infection HIV Infections - epidemiology HIV Infections - psychology Human immunodeficiency virus Humans Intervention Kenya - epidemiology Male Medicine and Health Sciences Pediatrics Peers People and Places Public health Reproductive health School Health Services Schools Sexually transmitted diseases Social aspects Social Sciences Social Stigma STD Stigma Teenagers Working groups Youth Kenya Nairobi Kenya Netherlands United States > US
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Summary:	Adolescents and youth living with HIV (AYLHIV) are a uniquely vulnerable population facing challenges around adherence, disclosure of HIV status and stigma. Providing school-based support for AYLHIV offers an opportunity to optimize their health and wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of school-based supportive interventions for AYLHIV in Kenya. From 2016-2019, with funding from ViiV Healthcare, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation implemented the innovative Red Carpet Program (RCP) for AYLHIV in participating public healthcare facilities and boarding schools in Homa Bay and Turkana Counties in Kenya. In this analysis, we report the implementation of the school-based interventions for AYLHIV in schools, which included: a) capacity building for overall in-school HIV, stigma and sexual and reproductive health education; b) HIV care and treatment support; c) bi-directional linkages with healthcare facilities; and d) psychosocial support (PSS). Overall, 561 school staff and 476 school adolescent health advocates received training to facilitate supportive environments for AYLHIV and school-wide education on HIV, stigma, and sexual and reproductive health. All 87 boarding schools inter-linked to 66 regional healthcare facilities to support care and treatment of AYLHIV. Across all RCP schools, 546 AYLHIV had their HIV status disclosed to school staff and received supportive care within schools, including treatment literacy and adherence counselling, confidential storage and access to HIV medications. School-based interventions to optimize care and treatment support for AYLHIV are feasible and contribute to advancing sexual and reproductive health within schools.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Current address: Ariel House, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya Competing Interests: This work was supported with funding by a grant from the Positive Action for Adolescents Programme by ViiV Healthcare UK Ltd. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0260278