Influence On Sustainability Of Key Population Projects At Nyeri County: A Case Of Mt. Kenya Hospital.

Abstract

Kenya‟s goal for the 2030 vision is to ensure zero HIV transmission. This is being done partly by targeting the Key Population who is the main source of new HIV infection due to their life styles (KAIS 2012). HIV transmission in Kenya is still high, currently standing at 5.6% in the general population. 44% of new infections are attributed to couples, 15% in MSM and 14% to casual sex. Many donors, government agencies, the community, and the private sectors have played major role in financing and running of the key population projects. In order to attain related Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), stakeholders have to work jointly for better results. These joint efforts to ensure that KP projects operate at optimal level even after the withdrawal by donors (Human Rights Watch, 2008). With the dwindling donor funds, if sustainable independence HIV management approaches are not embraced, achievement of vision 2030 may be another toll order. The situation may be worsened by the fact that Kenya is moving towards attaining middle-income status which means that donor resources may decline further. The study was necessitated by the turn of events when the donors funding the Key Population project reduced their funding in 2015 and projects started experiencing 80% stock outs of essential drugs due to lack of finances to purchase them (Human Rights Watch, 2008). This calls for the implementation of sustainable Key population projects in order to ensure that projects operate at an optimal level for better results. The study was guided by four objectives; to establish how socioeconomic factors, community participation, project management strategies and capacity building influence the sustainability of HIV and AIDs project for the KP at Nyeri County a case of Mt Kenya Hospital. Review of relevant literature revealed that there is little information on influences of sustainability of HIV and AIDs projects for the KP. The study targeted one Key Population Project based at Mt Kenya Hospital. Descriptive survey design was employed to gather information from a sample size of purposively selected 261 respondents using questionnaires and interview guide from the sampled stakeholders. Raw data was organized, edited, coded and analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics using computer software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences and presented using frequency distribution, percentages and tables. Poor socioeconomic status of the key population and the community outreach workers who are the main beneficiaries of the KP project. Majority of them came from dysfunctional families. It was also established that 84.5% of the families were female headed, 14.4% male headed and 1.7% child headed. There was a high rate of an employment with 66.0% earning between Ksh 0 to 5999. Community members‟ participation level in conception, design and implementation of the KP project was poor with 49.0% disagreeing with the level of community participation. Only 20.6 % agreed with the level of community participation. The communities were poorly involved in the contribution of resources for the running of the projects. The poor participation was attributed to the communities‟ poor socioeconomic status. The main source of funding for KP projects was donors‟ contributions as reported by 60.8%. In responding to the relevance of community trainings for the running of KP projects, 22.2% indicated that the trainings were very useful while 29.9% indicated that they were moderately useful. A majority of 47.9% indicated that the trainings were not useful in the running of the project. The study recommends community participation during project‟s conception, design and implementation. It is also recommended that project management strategies should be integrated in the project‟s long term plans in order to enhance long term benefits as well as capacity building in order to build adequate capacity among the community. The study findings will benefit the Government, KP projects, financiers and the community in realizing long term goals of new and existing project