Lodwar, June 19 -- The U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert F. Godec visited members of the Turkana Widows Advancement Program at a greenhouse that they operate in Lodwar Town.  The greenhouse is one of several livelihood activities that enable the community members to care for themselves and the orphans and vulnerable children for whom they are caregivers.  USAID funded the members to be trained on how to grow nutritious produce for consumption and sale, and the Ministry of Agriculture provided the greenhouse.  USAID supplied the water tank to irrigate the greenhouse crops. 

The Turkana Widows Advancement Program or “Pambazuka” is one of the six psychosocial support groups within the Tumaini Self-Help Group, a Kenyan community-based organization that receives U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding through the AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance activity in Kenya’s northern arid lands, known as APHIAplus IMARISHA.  The HIV positive members receive their HIV/AIDS care from the St. Patrick’s Clinic, which is run by the Diocese of Lodwar with funding from USAID’s APHIAplus IMARISHA.  As part of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID supports community-based organizations and faith-based organizations in thousands of communities across Kenya to build local capacity to care for and support their orphans and vulnerable children and people living with HIV.

USAID has invested $50 million in the APHIAplus IMARISHA activity for five years.  In Turkana, APHIAplus IMARISHA supports 48 Anti-Retroviral Treatment sites with a total catchment population of 330,000. In 2013, 160 pregnant women in the catchment area tested HIV positive and were put on ART prophylaxis to prevent Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. The project is also supporting 4,872 OVCs in Turkana through four Local Implementing Partners. 

USAID is investing Ksh 44.7 billion ($526,885,210) in the five-year AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance program throughout Kenya.