Integration of Family Planning and HIV Counselling and Testing

WHO and UNAIDS have advocated integration of §reproductive health and HIV/AIDS an effective §approach to increase HIV prevention in high §prevalence countries. By integrating HIV Counselling §and Testing (VCT) and family planning the access to §HIV information and contraceptive methods can be §expanded which would lead to a more effective §response to the epidemic and would help to avoid §unwanted pregnancy. Sub-Saharan African countries §continue to be most affected by HIV/AIDS. In Kenya, §the HIV prevalence rate is 6.7% while the §contraceptive uptake is relatively low. The Kenyan §government has recognized the benefits of integrated §family planning and VCT service delivery and §implemented the strategy on integration in 2003. It §identifies four levels for integrating family §planning into VCT and the national family planning §guidelines define two levels for integrating these §services. The study was conducted to investigate to §what extent family planning is integrated in Kenyan§VCT services and vice versa. The aim of this §research is to ultimately improve the access to §family panning services and HIV-related information §for the poor population in rural areas in Kenya.