Ludfine Anyango is the national coordinator for HIV/AIDS ActionAid Kenya Country Program. ActionAid has been in Kenya since 1972 and the mission of the organization is to work with marginalized people to overcome the injustice and inequity that cause poverty.
In her HIV/AIDS awareness work, Ludfine is very focused on gender and the ways in which women are disproportionately affected by the disease. Ludfine is a member of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, an organization dedicated to improving treatment and prevention for young women and girls. The coalition also focuses on how other forms of gender inequity increase women's vulnerability to contract the disease. Ludfine believes that current prevention methods that are being advocated, such as abstinence, monogamy and condom use will not work as these options rely on men. She hopes to promote the use of female condoms and microbicides so that women will have more power to prevent themselves from becoming infected.
Ludfine has attended several international AIDS conferences and believes that they do play a role in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS, however she also raises the point that the worth of the conferences should continually be reassessed, particularly in relation to women's rights.
Information on HIV/AIDS in Kenya, end of 2003
Adult* HIV prevalence rate:
6.7%
Adults living with HIV: 1,100,000
Adults and children living with HIV: 1,200,000
Women Living with HIV: 720,000
AIDS deaths (adults and children): 150,000
*Adult statistics for persons 15-49 years old
**statistics from deaths that occurred in 2003
Source: UNAIDS
Related Links
The official website for ActionAid International, an organization whose aim is to fight poverty worldwide.
http://www.actionaid.org/kenya/
This is the official website for the Kenya chapter of ActionAid.
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