Gender-Based Violence as A Driver of HIV Infections Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Kisumu, Kenya

Abstract

Gender Based Violence is a universal catastrophe affecting global health, and thus development and is a major human rights concern. This study’s major objective was to establish what extent gender-based violence prevention influence performance of HIV prevention projects for young women and teenagers in Kisumu County. The study population constituted of teenage girls, and young women enrolled in HIV prevention projects implemented in Kisumu County for at least two years. Interviews were also conducted with key project implementers including project managers and monitoring and evaluation managers. Data collection for the study was done by utilizing data collection tools which included focused group discussion, structured questionnaires and an interview guide. 364 respondents were taken from 89,611 adolescents enrolled in HIV prevention projects using stratified random sampling technique. For descriptive data the study employed percentages, frequencies Arithmetic Mean as analytical tools of analysis. The Pearson’s value and Linear Regression were manipulated as statistical tools for inferential statistics. To test the hypotheses, the Fisher (F) test utilized. Descriptive statistics showed that gender-based violence prevention has a noteworthy effect on the production of HIV prevention projects for young women and adolescent girls in Kisumu County. The value of r2 was 0.452, indicating that gender-based violence prevention explained 45.2% of the change in the effectiveness of HIV prevention projects in Kisumu. The beta coefficient was 0.623, implying that gender-based violence had a noteworthy statistical impact on the performance of HIV prevention projects (β=0.623, t=10.928, p=0.000<0.05).