Real Lives
Josephine Akulo
Project Area, Location
Kogelo,
Siaya County,
Kenya
ACE INTERVENTION
Josephine Akulo is an extremely dedicated community health worker and uses her own experiences as a person living with HIV and AIDS to educate her community and help prevent the spread of the infection. She openly talks about her positive status within the community to reduce the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS and provides psychosocial support and other care services to community members.
OUTCOME
Josephine has been trained to take blood samples from babies who have HIV positive mothers and is particularly concerned about child welfare. She assists vulnerable children and victims of abuse with health referrals and treatment, ensuring they receive the vital support they need to cope with the neglect and cruelty they have endured. Akulo has also been actively involved in the community’s campaign which promotes the eradication of Jigger’s, a parasite which enters the foot and causes it to swell. She has helped community members understand that Jigger’s is caused by unhygienic conditions rather than witchcraft.
Josephine has been trained to take blood samples from babies who have HIV positive mothers and is particularly concerned about child welfare. She assists vulnerable children and victims of abuse with health referrals and treatment, ensuring they receive the vital support they need to cope with the neglect and cruelty they have endured. Akulo has also been actively involved in the community’s campaign which promotes the eradication of Jigger’s, a parasite which enters the foot and causes it to swell. She has helped community members understand that Jigger’s is caused by unhygienic conditions rather than witchcraft.