“Services are not necessarily very adolescent-friendly, so when you get children who are HIV-positive they are likely to face discrimination,” says Harriet Birungi, an associate in the Reproductive Health Program with the Population Council in Kenya, in this interview with ECSP’s Gib Clarke following the
Global Health Initiative’s
Integrating HIV/AIDS and Maternal Health Services panel.
According to Birungi, medical service censoring and targeted exclusion from schools are among the top challenges facing Kenyan adolescents living with HIV/AIDS. She hopes better support systems and intervention strategies, especially for pregnant individuals, will help medical personnel more quickly identify HIV-positive young adults needing critical medical services.