Performance Of Health Strategies In Reducing Hiv/Aids Prevalence In The Catholic Diocese Of Homa Bay, Kenya

ABSTRACT

HIV/AIDS prevalence within the two counties that constitute the Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay remains high despite numerous interventions and generous resource allocation both from the central and devolved governments as well as donor agencies. This study assessed the performance of health strategies in reducing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

prevalence as enshrined in the 2012 – 2016 Strategic Plan of the Catholic Diocese of Homa

Bay. The four strategies are; health education awareness, health nutrition training, disease

prevention practices and promotion of safe motherhood. Relying on such theories as adult

learning theory, social cognitive theory, theory of planned behavior and the theory of health

seeking behaviour, this study investigated how application of various strategies yield results.

Towards achieving this, the study purposely targeted the Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay to

form a basis for objective generalization. The diocese has six deaneries with a total of 33

health facilities in whose purview the target population of 100 was constituted, whose views

and opinions led to the study’s generalizations. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was

employed to test internal consistency and thereby establish the reliability of the study

instruments. Questionnaires were administered to collect data on performance indicators. The

data was then processed and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, in

which case, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis were applied. Computer

software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze the

collected data. The analyzed data was presented in form of tables for ease of communication.

The study’s key findings in tandem with the study objectives were established. It emerged

that, the correlation between health education awareness and success of reducing Human

Immune Virus infections stood at .919 implying a strong positive association of 91.9 percent

between health education awareness and success of reducing infections. It was also

established that the correlation between health nutrition training and success of reducing new

Human Immune Virus infections was at 0.75, implying a strong positive association of 75

percent between health nutrition training and strategic intervention in reducing prevalence.

The study further revealed that the correlation between disease prevention practices and

success of reducing Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome incidents was 0.64, implying a

strong positive association of 64 percent between disease prevention practices and prevalence

reduction. Regarding safe motherhood as a strategic initiative towards the reduction of new

infections and mortality, it was found out that at 1 degrees of freedom, the computed F =

201.000 is greater than the critical F =.020. This implies that the overall regression model

was significant. The study recommended key interventions towards mitigation from all

sectors. Stakeholders with keen interest in reducing prevalence should help in improving

prevention practices rather than curative ones. Safe motherhood should be a key pillar in

reducing new Human Immune Virus infections in the Catholic Diocese of Homa Bay. The

study opened a gap for further research exploring other strategies implemented to reduce

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome prevalence across dioceses and counties