Faith leaders are playing a critical role in Kenya’s ongoing efforts to combat HIV, eliminate stigma, and promote healthier behavior, as emphasized during a high-level consultative meeting held Tuesday in Nairobi. The forum brought together the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem), the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council (NSDCC), government agencies, health professionals, and civil society actors to advance faith-based public health initiatives.
Participants agreed that religious institutions, long seen as spiritual havens, are now powerful platforms for driving social change—especially on sensitive issues like HIV, mental health, and gender-based violence. NSDCC’s Angella Langat highlighted that the trust communities place in faith leaders makes them ideal allies in delivering culturally sensitive health messages, reducing stigma, and encouraging health-seeking behavior.
The two-day meeting also revealed that while northeastern Kenya records the lowest HIV prevalence, it also suffers the highest levels of HIV-related stigma. Supkem’s involvement in shaping messages through the Kenya Aids Strategic Framework II was praised as a model of effective faith-health collaboration.
Ministry of Health officials, including Dr. Valeria Makory, called for stronger integration of religious voices in national and county health strategies, particularly in pastoral regions where misinformation and low treatment uptake persist. Dr. Abdallah Bajaber of the Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals (KAMMP) announced plans for a Sharia-compliant Level 6B hospital and stressed the need to formalize spiritual care in hospitals to foster trust and healing.
The meeting underscored that ending the HIV epidemic in Kenya requires not just medical interventions, but moral leadership and cultural understanding—areas where faith leaders are uniquely positioned to make lasting change.
