Kakamega boda boda join war against HIV, teen pregnancies

 

Boda boda operators in Kakamega county have joined the campaigns against teenage pregnancies, HIV/AIDs and gender-based violence in rural areas.

Through Boda Boda Medical Ventures, the riders will partner with the United States of America International Development  in their programmes to become ambassadors of change for triple threat in the community in the county.

The programme seeks to tap into the vast networks by the riders, especially in rural areas, to create awareness on teen pregnancies, GBV and HIV/AIDS, and monitor and report cases to authorities that they detect for action.

Boda boda operators have in the past been blamed by various players in the campaigns against teen pregnancies as major contributors to the menace.

During a sensitisation event supported by USAID in Malava subcounty, Stephen Shitanda from Boda boda Medical Ventures said that the riders are key stakeholders in helping the county to address the high incidences of teenage pregnancies and GBV.

"These (boda boda operators) are of great help since they are the ones who take pupils to schools and bring them back home and they can easily help identify those responsible for this triple threat mess in the society," Shitanda said. 

"We want to educate boda boda people on the importance of safeguarding our community by being ambassadors, champions and a link between the vulnerable in the society and the relevant bodies.” 

Shitanda said in order to achieve their goals, they will be putting the riders operators under medical schemes by insurance companies and training them to acquire licenses.

"We want to correct the bad mentality by the community that boda boda operators are bad people and become ambassadors in the fight against triple threats that threatens the community. We are assisting them to get insurance and medical cover, licenses and training them so that they move around knowing they are protected.” 

Shitanda said the initiative is geared towards bringing order and discipline among the boda boda operators.

"They will be reporting to us through their leaders from the ward to the county level and security agencies on anything they suspect or fear it will be jeopardising the effort to end the triple," he said.

The programme is being rolled across the 12 constituencies of Kakamega county.

The county recorded 1,000 teenage pregnancies by girls aged between 10 and 14 years last year.

Governor Fernandes Barasa launched a GBV rescue centre in Shinyalu subcounty to offer refute to victims of domestic violence in the county in June.

Underscoring the need for all actors to work together in the fight against triple threats, the county chief said that his administration had allocated enough funds to health services in its current budget to address the three issues.

According to National Diseases Control Council Kakamega county has 47,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

Last year the county recorded more than 100 new infections all being youths between the age of 10-19 and are under treatment.

"We have allocated enough in our 2023/2024 financial year budget to step up the fight against these menaces that threaten the wellbeing of the society. We will ensure that every constituency has a GBV rescue and recovery centre," Barasa said. 

Malava subcounty boda boda chairman Chitunga Museve said they have put measures in place to ensure the sector is streamlined as opposed to currently where majority of them are perceived by the public as gangs.

"We have committees from ward to county level that will ensure boda people are disciplined. We’ve established disciplinary committees that will deal with members who will be found to engage in defilement and GBV,” he said.

Chitunga said they have records of all their members starting from their background history, criminal history, their place of living and their place of work and the information that will be shared with security agencies.

"We have directed all our members to know their customers and this will be the first step in addressing the issues at hand,” he said. 

Chitunga said that they are registering members afresh to get rid of rogue boda boda operators from the sector.

"We are going to be the ambassadors of triple threat and this will entail sensitisation, awareness creation and reporting any case of defilement because we are the ones in rural areas and we know those rogue people who transport minors to unsafe places and in the hands of bad people.”   BY THE STAR