Leveraging partnerships for the scale up of HIVST kits distribution

PS Kenya’s HIV self-testing Challenge Fund project’s goal is to complement MOH efforts to reach the country 95- 95-95 targets by developing and catalyzing the market for HIV self-testing (HIVST) kits with a focus on at-risk men, and increasing their HIV status awareness. The project collaborated with various stakeholders to reach men 20-34 years with HIV self-testing services through pharmacies, workplaces as well as in the community hotspots in order to remove barriers to access for conventional HIV testing services.

The project staff worked in partnership with the CHMTs in the three counties where it was being implemented i.e. Kisumu, Nairobi and Kiambu. At inception, the project conducted county entry meetings and sub county entry meetings with an objective of familiarizing the respective focal MO H program with the scope of the project,
develop partnerships and get buy-in for smooth running of the project.

During project implementation the County Health Management Teams and Subcounty Health Management Teams were involved in joint supportive supervision during HIVST kits distribution outreaches conducted by CBOs. The County laboratory team helped in carrying out of quality assurance exercise on the HIVST Kits to ensure delivery of accurate results as stipulated in the HTS guidelines. The project team held quarterly data review meetings with the CHMTs to review progress, identify gaps and develop targeted action plans with tracking results thereafter. This led to distribution of 305,263 HIVST kits an achievement of 125% of project 244,210 targets.

As a result of the partnership with the CHMT’s, on 13th February 2021 we witnessed public private partnership that saw Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), Naivas Supermarkets and PS Kenya jointly launch the use of vending machines in workplaces to dispense HIVST kits.

Before the launch of the vending machine, peer educators were selected and trained by the NMS HIV sub-county unit so as to ensure that all the myths and misconceptions of HIV and HIVST were addressed. Additionally, engagement with the NMS team facilitated entry into workplaces and supported the mapping of workplaces for HIVST outreaches yielding 153% achievement against the targets in year two compared to 11% in year one when the mapping was done directly by the project.
As a result of the partnership with the CHMTs,
on 13th February 2021 we witnessed public