Economic Empowerment Approaches for Young Women on HIV Prevention: A Case of Ragana Oruba Ward, Migori County, Kenya

Abstract

A growing number of HIV/AIDS programmes targets young women with economic empowerment approaches; but if the results are assessed, they tend to be in small scale and inconsistent. Since the number of young women living with HIV has continued to increase worldwide, it is critical that effective preventive and mitigation techniques be developed forthwith. New HIV infection among young women, has been difficult to reduce using traditional HIV preventive efforts because of their emphasis on individual behaviour modification. In Ragana Oruba ward, Migori county, the researcher attepted to find out how economic empowerment aproaches on young women’s can be used as a strategy for HIV prevention. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of technical vocational education ,f linkage to employment, linkage to micro-finance and entrepreneurship support as starategies of economic strenthening in HIV programing. The study used a descriptive survey research design within a qualitative and quantitative paradigm. The study’s representative samples were drawn using a systematic process of purposeful sampling. The study engaged a sample size of 177 participants, majority were young women, their female mentors, and few women working in an HIV prevention program that has incoparated economic empowernment approaches. The questionnaire was used to gather information. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics including percentages, means, and standard deviations. Bar charts, graphs, and pie charts, as well as descriptive text, were used to illustrate the data. Majority of the women intervied indicated that including economic empowernemnt approaches techniques into HIV prevention initiatives significantly lowered the number of new HIV infections. It is evident that most women are not economically independent and they prefer to start their own business or linked to employment to be able to improve their interpersonal relationships and in turn influence cultural attitudes about the roles of men and women. The result show that promoting micro-financing in the vulnerable population stimulates the establishment of Income-Generating Activities (IGAs) with an adverse effects on household and individual stability. The researcher suggested changes to county policy and HIV prevention initiatives based on these findings. To reduce new HIV infection amongst young women and alleviate poverty amongst them, the government has to develop and execute community-based micro-finance understanding for young women to gain access to resources and information on saving and loaning to boost self-sufficiency.