The health centre, located in the heart of a trailer park in the border town of Busia, in Kenya’s Western province, aims to address the health needs of mobile populations by providing free tuberculosis, malaria and HIV treatment. Working with IOM and the Kenya National AIDS/STD Control Programme, it aims to cover the entire transport corridor with free health care clinics specifically designed for hard-to-reach populations; these include truck drivers, civil servants and female sex workers who, due to their deprived social and economic environment, are particularly prone to engaging in risky sex and, therefore, vulnerable to HIV.
Busia Trailer Park Wellness Centre and Clinic has provided a platform for cross border health discussions between Kenyan and Ugandan Government officials who have now met to discuss ways to offer a common health care package for mobile populations on both sides of the border.
There is a need to focus more on prevention; behavioural and clinical services are to be put in place and scaled up to secure meaningful impact for migrants and mobile populations who are currently not being catered for by health services. This involves strengthening partnerships, capacity building, accountability, coordination and financial commitment which will ultimately prevent new HIV infections.
The project recommends mainstreaming migration and health into all legislation, policies and programmes that are related to health and development, as well as into the National Strategic Plan for the health sector in Kenya, advocating for increased resource allocation in order to implement effective migration and health initiatives and developing effective mechanisms to measure and evaluate migration and health initiatives.
