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karegwa muchiri [ Profil ] |
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The 2nd National Bar Hostess Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexual Violence in Kenya
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Sep 15th, 2008 - 07:00:48 |
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September 11, 2008
Dear Partner,
RE: THE 2ND NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO PROMOTE THE REDUCTION OF HIV/AIDS AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE PROMOTED BY VULNERABILITY AND STIGMA AMONG FEMALE BAR WORKERS IN KENYA.
Greetings, from Purple Images Productions.
Purple Images is in the process of organizing the 2nd National Bar Hostess AIDS Conference slated for October 27th 28th. The 1st conference was first organized in 2006 and was a success with kind support from Ministry of Health, Hivos Netherlands, East African Breweries Ltd, National Aids Control Council , Kenya AIDS NGOS Consortium , and the World Health Organization, which attracted international publicity with the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4783631.stm) The upcoming conference is already gathering support from the media, Communication Initiative Network and other partners(www.comminit.com/en/node/273507)
The main agenda of the conference is to reach a high risk group to promote behavior change communication to reduce the incidence and the impact of HIV/AIDS and sexual violence among bar maids while bringing into the public lime light and policy issues that affect bar maids such as employment conditions.
In Kenya today, there are currently over 40,000 bars employing an average of 5 bar hostesses. This makes a total of over 200,000 bar hostesses countrywide. A simple survey conducted in Nairobi by Kenya Bar Hostess Aids Programme showed that about 90% of the bar hostesses are sexually active with multiple sexual partners. The rate of infection and exposure to sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS is therefore higher than the national average.
Assuming of the 90% of the 200,000 Bar Hostesses nationwide, 80% of them are exposed to the virus, this translates to 5.2% of national average of people living with HIV/AIDS being bar hostess. This is a very high percentage considering that bar hostesses are just 0.5 % of the total national population.
The Kenya Bar Hostess Aids Programme and Purple Images Productions consider this a big risk to the bar hostesses and believe that the only way to combat this is through targeted behavior change communication and economic empowerment to reduce the need for commercial sex.
With regard to sexual violence, bar hostesses are socially stigmatized and discriminated. Most bar patrons regard bar hostesses as third rate citizens and often as mere sex objects to be abused. The bar hostess profession is socially stigmatized by health officials and the police in particular are known to harass bar hostesses as either disease carriers or criminals. A majority bar hostesses have found themselves exposed to all forms of Sexual Violence including forced and unprotected sex and physical Sexual Violence from their supervisors, employers, the police and even their clients and partners. Apart from the forced sex, some bar hostesses are daily physically assaulted and raped while others voluntarily have one or more sexual partners in one day.
Partners of bar hostesses are often married men who also pose serious risk
to their wives and girlfriends. With one barmaid having an average of 3
different sexual partners per week, then over 115,200 could be exposed and
345,600 men will risk contracting HIV/AIDS in a week. At the same time
115,200 bar hostesses will have exposed themselves to the risk of
contracting sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. These
statistics however appreciate that about 20% of the bar hostesses may
insist on safer sex.
In this regard, The Kenya Bar Hostess Aids Programme and Purple Images Productions have organized the second twoday national conference on Bar Hostess and HIV/AIDS and Sexual Violence. The theme of the conference is Towards Empowering Bar Hostesses to Fight HIV/AIDS and Sexual Violence.
The conference will be held on 27th and 28th October 2008 at Nairobi safari park hotel.
The goal of the conference is to promote behavior change communication
among bar hostesses through personal skills building as well as
Strengthening of individual and group capacities to improve collaboration
and networking to identify alternatives to reduce the incidence and impact
of HIV/AIDS among bar hostesses.
Conference Objectives:
To provide a forum for Bar Hostesses to share experiences, challenges and lessons learnt on HIV/AIDS prevention and management and Sexual Violence against women.
To impart life skills among bar hostesses to enable them address issues that promote the spread of HIV in the context of their high risk environment.
To address social stigma and discrimination among bar hostesses affected and infected with HIV/AIDS and to promote care and support for bar hostesses living with HIV at the community level and to promote their participation in the care and support activities for their colleagues and AIDS orphans in the targeted communities.
To promote the creation of alternative economic empowerment opportunities such as income generating activities to mitigate the spread of HIV/AIDS among bar hostesses
To draw recommendations and the way forward for strengthening and expanding the role of bar hostesses in the prevention of gender Sexual Violence and HIV/AIDS
Conference Presentation Topics:
Stigma and Discrimination
Behavior Change Communication
Bar Hostesses and Sexual Violence
Reproductive Health and Reproductive Health Rights
Womens health and safe motherhood
Drug abuse and Bar Hostesses
The social economic impact of AIDS among Bar Hostesses
Commercial sex and HIV Infection
Income generation projects as an alternative to poor employment terms and commercial sex
Bar hostesses rights and privileges as women and workers.
We take this opportunity to invite you as Speaker, sponsor, exhibitor or as a delegate.
Looking forward to your partnership in the fight against HIV/Aids and sexual violence among bar hostesses in Kenya.
Yours Sincerely
Sylvia Micho
Conference Coordinator
The 2nd National Bar Hostess Conference on HIV/AIDS in Kenya
Purple Images Productions
Mbuchia House, 3rd Flr, West Wing, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya
P.O BOX 58182 - 00200 Nairobi
Telephone: 254-20-4450937/ 4452674 Cell: 254-720-425175/ 722 634947 Email: info (at) purpleimages.com or conferences.purpleimages (at) gmail.comWebsite: www.purpleimages.com
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