Project Kenya

the problem:

Since 1975, HIV/AIDS has ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS estimates that in Kenya alone, 700 people a day die of HIV related infection. While enormous in scale, global HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts are limited by issues of poverty, political instability and cultural stigma. Leading research has identified nutrition as an indispensable component for all aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. A committed group of eight Cornell students and staff, working closely with a Kenyan NGO in Western Kenya, have identified interactive nutrition education as a critical, cost effective, accessible strategy for aiding HIV/AIDS affected, low-resource communities. Action-oriented nutrition education is particularly crucial in areas of the Bungoma District of Kenya, where treatment options are limited. Unified in combating this critical need, the Project Kenya group works in partnership with Kenyan colleagues to educate, assess and advocate. Ten months of intensive planning and preparation will culminate in a revolutionary four-week nutrition outreach project called ENRCH in rural Kenya, taking place in December 2007 and January 2008. Beyond the project’s service impact, Project Kenya provides its student facilitators with timely and formative experience translating academic learning into practical action, linking the tremendous resources of Cornell University to local understandings and needs.

vital stats:

people impacted:

people involved: