Culturally Sensitive Ways to Increase Awareness and Improve Health-seeking Behavior : health promotion project for TB and HIV co-infection in Kisumu, Kenya

Abstract

The health promotion project conducted in Kisumu East Sub-County aimed to identify culturally relevant approaches for increasing awareness and improving health-seeking behaviours related to tuberculosis (TB), HIV co-infection, and their treatment and prevention measures. The project was carried out in collaboration with Community Health Support programme (COHESU), a local NGO with experience in implementing similar health promotion initiatives in Kisumu County, Kenya.

Kisumu County was chosen as the project location due to its high incidence rates of TB and HIV infections. Recent studies indicated that Kisumu had recorded over 1,000 HIV infections, ranking it as the third highest in Kenya, along with a substantial burden of TB cases ranging from 500 to 600 cases per 100,000 population. The project primarily targeted community healthcare workers operating at the primary and secondary prevention levels.

The health promotion project followed a comprehensive planning and evaluation process. The Health Belief Model was the theoretical framework. This model identified essential factors that drive behavioural changes and improve health-seeking behaviours. The main data collection method involved conducting interviews with key informants who represented community healthcare workers. Key informants were recruited anonymously using purposive sampling through the distribution of project flyers facilitated by the partner organization in Kisumu East Sub-County, based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. The collected data were analyzed using thematic data analysis methods.

One of the key findings was that culturally relevant health promotion gets easy recognition among community healthcare workers. They acknowledged that these efforts are vital for a smoother exchange of information within TB and HIV control projects and immunization campaigns. The need to allocate more resources was recommended, particularly for the training of culturally versed community health care volunteers in underserved communities, especially in the rural areas where most of the population resides.

Following the intensified mobility of people across the globe, the call for cultural sensitivity is taking center stage in political and cultural discourses. In this growing complex cultural landscape, health promotion works have to quickly adapt to this new reality by developing adequate and culturally sensitive health promotion strategies.

Keywords: Health promotion, Tuberculosis (TB), HIV co-infection, Health Believe Model, Kenya, Cultural sensitivity, Community Awareness