HIV and AIDS Silence: The Coping Mechanism of the Youth in Poor Households in Kenyan Slums

Urbanus Mwinzi Ndollo, PhD* – Social Work Coordinator, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya
*Corresponding author: umndolo@gmail.com

Received March 5, 2018; Revised April 4, 2018; Accepted April 11, 2018

Abstract: There is no doubt it is all silent! HIV and AIDS are no longer the threatening health diseases that dominated the local and international daily news! Are HIV and AIDS no longer imminent health challenges, particularly among the youth in slums in the contemporary World today? The paper explores the critical implications of this silence yet no cure seems to be on the table yet! Why are funding allocations and the vibrancy that used to be there diminishing yet people are still dying in the midst of little support and international attention? A recent study on the coping mechanisms of the poor in Slum settlements in Kenya revealed that while it was a death sentence to be HIV positive or be living with full brown AIDS, apparently people are intentionally exposing themselves as a strategy to qualify for socioeconomic support safety nets! The study adopted a mixed research design with both qualitative and quantitative perspectives predominantly applied. Out of the 136 females and 89 males, structured observation and interviews, with key informants and focus group discussions were employed in data collection. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze quantitative data, while qualitative data was analyzed and processed through key themes emerging from the respondents. The paper concludes that once the trend becomes an alarming challenge since life is back to normal with safe sex being a none material concern at the Global arena, the stakeholders are likely to revive funding sources and renew their strategy on protection projects, which would be too late to salvage the devastation the scourge will have imposed on society. Definitely the water will have spilled! Apparently there is need to restructure the HIV and AIDS policy framework and revive mutual collaborative support to save the innocent citizenry in whose view, the danger is out of hand and sex is seen as a free social good for mutual interaction and appreciation of human co-existence.