This story is part of a series of reports from the ongoing POWER Study, which is developing cost-effective and scalable models for PrEP delivery in Kenya and South Africa. AVAC and the University of Washington (UW) have teamed up to help answer questions from implementers rolling out PrEP in a variety of settings. Using qualitative stories from the UW PrEP projects, these blogs share lessons learned from the field and actionable insights for implementers developing strategies for delivering PrEP.

By Jeanne Baron

Joel Odondi must be doing something right. The former chaplain for a girls’ school has become a trusted expert on HIV prevention to radio listeners across Kenya – delivering messages that correct misinformation, counter myths, explain scientific concepts, and frame public health debates on PrEP and a host of other issues related to HIV. Keeping an ear out especially for what young women need to hear, Odondi uses a powerful combination of responsiveness, accuracy and credibility to get the job done.

It started ten years ago, when Odondi turned to a local radio station in Kisumu to get out messages about PrEP. The idea was to inform the community about research going on in their backyard on a new HIV prevention intervention, PrEP, and enroll people in the study, known as Partners PrEP, which also sponsored the show. Since that launch, the show was popular enough to continue through the open label extension study, demonstration study, and scale up program that is part of national roll out.

At the time, Odondi was part of the Partner’s PrEP team in Kisumu. It was a phase III placebo-controlled trial of daily oral TDF or TDF/FTC as PrEP for the prevention of HIV among heterosexual men and women in sero-discordant partnerships in Kenya and Uganda. Odondi saw that the providers and the scientists had developed a strong program to explain the study and how PrEP works. But that wasn’t enough. Read more via AVAC

See Obdondi’s brief outline of radio as a tool for community engagement here