ARASA & KELIN Partners pledge support to the ARASA Country Programme

KELIN and ARASA partners have pledged their support to the National HIV, TB and Human Rights Training and Advocacy Programme in Kenya. These sentiments were strongly indicated during a stakeholder’s consultative forum held on 6 and 7 April 2017 to introduce the programme in Kenya. KELIN will host the programme which is supported by ARASA.

Partners present at the consultative forum noted that the programme is timely and will go a long way in supporting community structures to monitor implementation of the right to health. The partners further identified the three advocacy issues to focus on: advocacy for the implementation of protective laws and policies and the reform of problematic ones; advocacy for meaningful participation of CSOs in the implementation of right to health especially at county level; and advocacy for access to information, health care services and health commodities at the community level.

Commissioner Catherine Mumma who made a presentation on health as a devolved function remarked:

“Civil society ought to design and implement their programmes in ways that advocate for the implementation of the right to health – especially respect for health as a devolved function and the operationalization of community level structures envisaged by the Constitution of Kenya.”

The consultative forum was attended by over 30 partners including representatives of civil society organizations, networks of persons living with HIV and affected by TB, representatives of key and affected populations, development partners, and representatives of government agencies.

The ARASA Country Programme has previously been hosted in Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It aims at building a cadre of knowledgeable civil society leaders across the region as the basis of a broad social mobilization around the right to health and accountability of government and other institutions to their international, regional and national legal obligations for health and human rights.

To contribute to the discussion and for live updates follow KELIN on our social media platforms using the hashtag #HIVTBRights.

 

Twitter: @KELINkenya

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kelinkenya

 

For more information contact:
Lucy Ghati

Programme Manager, HIV & TB

Mombasa Road, Somak building 4^th Floor

P O Box 112 – 00200 KNH Nrb,

Tel: 020, 2515790 │Mobile: 0790 487473, 0722 747382

E-mail: lghati@kelinkenya.org

Website: www.kelinkenya.org