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Abstract Background Sexual violence, a global concern, disproportionately affects women. In Kenya, over 40% of women experience intimate partner violence, reflecting a pressing need for understanding and addressing this issue. Sub-Saharan Africa faces a 18.7% prevalence with deep-rooted determinants like unequal power relations and cultural practices. Consequences from unwanted pregnancy to trauma hinder development goals. This study focuses on sexual violence among Kenyan women aged 15–49, aiming to inform policies and contribute to a safer, more equitable society. Methods This study analyzed 2022 Kenya Demographic Health Survey data. It used a two-stage cluster sampling method, surveyed 32,156 women aged 15–49, examined determinants of sexual violence, and employed statistical analysis to identify significant predictors. Results This study revealed several significant factors associated with the risk of sexual violence among women in Kenya. Educational attainment emerged as a key determinant, with women holding primary or secondary education showing higher odds of experiencing sexual violence compared to those with higher education. Desire for children also played a significant role; women whose partners desired more children had higher odds of experiencing sexual violence compared to those with mutual or differing desires for children. Domestic violence exposure was strongly associated with sexual violence, as women who experienced domestic violence had 8.69 times the odds of experiencing sexual violence. Additionally, partner alcohol consumption increased the likelihood of sexual violence, as did cultural attitudes, with women who believed that a wife’s refusal of sex justified physical violence facing higher odds of sexual violence. Conclusions and recommendations This study identifies key factors, including education, domestic violence, alcohol consumption, and cultural attitudes, that increase sexual violence risk. Recommendations include education, addressing domestic violence, promoting healthy relationships, and challenging harmful norms.

Background. Vaccination is the most important and reliable public health measure and the most effective strategy for protecting the population from COVID‐19. Much as vaccines are present, there is low uptake due to their low availability, poor attitudes, and low levels of knowledge among the population due to hesitancy.Low vaccination uptake poses the population and nurses at risk of acquiring the disease and of individuals developing complications of the same disease compared to vaccinated communities. Methodology. The study had a hospital-based cross-sectional descriptive design, as data were collected from participants at one point in time. Data were collected using a questionnaire administered to 138 randomly sampled nurses at the Mbarara Regional Hospital. Results. The majority of the nurses (67.4%) had heard of COVID-19 vaccination, and 85.5% had been vaccinated. The majority believed that vaccination was safe, with some side effects (87.0%), 67.4% had good knowledge about COVID-19 vaccination, and 32.6% had moderate knowledge about vaccination. The majority (73.3%) of the participants had a positive attitude toward vaccination and 26.8% had a negative attitude towards vaccination. Conclusion. This study revealed that the majority of nurses generally had good knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination. However, in the context of a pandemic, vaccine hesitancy is a major barrier to the implementation of vaccination campaigns. To maintain the benefits of vaccination programs, understanding and addressing vaccine hesitancy are crucial to their successful implementation. Recommendation. The government, through the Ministry of Health, should strengthen the COVID-19 vaccination awareness campaign, focusing on people living in rural areas by making relatively more detailed information readily available through easily accessible communication channels, such as local radio stations and health education programs at health facilities and community health outreaches.

Purpose: This study aims at exploring experiences of people caring for adolescents living with HIV, also known as caregivers. By 2021, 150,000 adolescents were living with HIV and 32,000 adolescents were dying of AIDS related causes. HIV/AIDS remains one of the most serious public health problems, especially among the adolescents. This has placed a heavy burden on many caregivers, yet they are essential in caring for ALHIV. However, focus of all interventions has excluded caregivers of ALHIV. Thus, this is the reason why this study is being conducted to find out caregivers' experience in caring for ALHIV., Participants and Methods: A phenomenological study was carried out. Purposive sampling was used to select a total of 15 caregivers to participate in the study. These participants were subjected to in-depth semi-structured interviews. Their responses were recorded, transcribed and translated for thematic analysis., Results: While analyzing the results, six themes emerged. They include: diagnosis and reaction to diagnosis, experiences on adolescent's HIV serostatus disclosure, stigma and discrimination, care disengagement, and lastly, challenges during care and coping strategies. Caregivers experienced feelings of fear, Guilt, suicidal thoughts after diagnosis. Stigma and discrimination of adolescents living with HIV which was common at school and from the neighbors and the adolescent stage were some of the challenges experienced by the caregivers and it makes it hard to retain ALHIV in care., Conclusion: Families are the main source of caregiving to the adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV). The study's findings indicate that caregivers in the families experience challenges related to family needs, and psychological challenges resulting from the adolescence stage. So, families should not be left to shoulder the burden of caring for ALHIV. As a way forward, social network and financial support should also be strengthened for most caregivers as a coping strategy., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Kasande et al.)

Purpose: Community Client-Led ART Delivery groups (CCLADS) were introduced as part of the differentiated service delivery models in 2017 to better serve growing number of HIV patients and reduce unnecessary burden on the HIV care delivery system. However, there is limited evidence on the exact patients' and care providers' experiences and perceptions regarding the CCLADS model of ART delivery. We therefore aimed to explore the experiences and perceptions on CCLADS model from the patient and provider perspectives., Participants and Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was conducted at two ART clinics in Southwestern Uganda. We conducted in-depth interviews (IDI) to get a deeper understanding of the patient and providers' perspective regarding the model. Responses from participants were recorded using audio recorders and were translated and transcribed. We used thematic approach to analyze the data., Results: A total of 20 in depth interviews were conducted, with providers, CCLAD leaders and Adults Living with HIV (ALHIV) to assess the experiences and perceptions to participation among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) enrolled in CCLADS and the care providers. Key themes included benefits, limitations, experiences and perceptions of CCLADS. Benefits to ALHIV included: Longer refills, reduced transport costs, receive drugs in time, peer advice; to providers: time saving, less tiresome and reduced congestion at facility. Barriers included: stigma, limited outreaches, failure to comply. Patients perceived the model positively (cost effective, improved quality care, no missed appointment where as others were negative (blood samples not taken like before). Experiences also included enough time, learnt some activities and good adherence., Conclusion: Participation in the CCLADS groups provides several benefits to the patient including reduced transport, longer refills and good adherence. Stigma remains a challenge to CCLADS participation, which requires innovative and collaborative strategies from Ministry of Health (MOH) and implementation partners to address in order to sustain CCLADS participation., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2022 Kasande et al.)