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Programs

ART program launched in Mombasa, Kenya
MAY 2003 – A new USAID-supported antiretroviral therapy (ART) program in Mombasa, Kenya, distributed its first drugs on May 23. USAID is providing technical and financial assistance to this first public sector comprehensive care and ART program in Kenya, through FHI's IMPACT Project, the Population Council's Horizons project, and Management Sciences for Health's Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus project.

The combination operational and research program will provide ART to 300 people for five years. ART is new to Kenya, which is one of three countries in Africa receiving such assistance from USAID (the others are Ghana and Rwanda). The program is using a standard ART regime approved by the Ministry of Health and following selection criteria for recipients that were long discussed by various stakeholder committees.

Although it is the first public sector ART intervention in the country, the Kenya government plans others that will draw on lessons learned from this initial effort in Mombasa. The program aims to create a learning site for the safe and effective use of ART by strengthening the existing HIV clinic at the Coast General Provincial Hospital and the voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services of two primary health centers.  These facilities will be linked through referral and follow-up systems with communities and community-based health and support organizations in the Mombasa District.

The program will be part of the provincial and district health services under the guidance of the National AIDS and STD Control Program (NASCOP), the Ministry of Health and the Kenya National Taskforce on ART.  Lessons learned will be disseminated to national policymakers and stakeholders.

The intervention's overall goal is to reduce HIV/AIDS-related mortality and morbidity, improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and their families, and strengthen comprehensive care and support by introducing ART as an integral element of comprehensive care and support.  Its particular objectives are to: 

  • Better understand the distribution and use of antiretroviral drugs in Mombasa.
  • Assess the capacity of the drug management system in Mombasa to support access and rational use of ART and other essential HIV-related commodities.
  • Support the improvement of the HIV/AIDS clinics, laboratory and pharmacy services at the Coast General Provincial Hospital in Mombasa.
  • Train health care workers in using ART and clinical management of PLHA.
  • Assess the feasibility and effectiveness of an ART program in a sub-Saharan African setting.
  • Assess the acceptability of ART within the community where it is introduced.
  • Conduct an economic evaluation of ART introduction in a sub-Saharan African setting.
  • Sensitize and involve communities and PLHA support groups in comprehensive care, including ART.
  • Determine the feasibility and determinants of expanding the introductory program to scale.
  • Learn through operational research how to achieve these goals.