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Carolyne’s Fight: Ending HIV and Gender-Based Violence

Fighting for What Counts

By The Global Fund

February 21^st, 2022

Carolyne says the impact her work has on the lives of young women and girls in her community motivates her every day.

“What I love about my job is that I'm able to change lives. I can't change all of them, but there are a few individuals that I can change,” she says.

Carolyne doesn’t just have one job in her community – she has four.

She works as a community adolescent treatment supporter – providing assistance to young women with HIV, including on adhering to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. She is a paralegal trained to identify and address cases of gender-based violence. She is a "know your rights" facilitator where she organizes youth groups on understanding their rights and how to protect them. And she is a mentor, providing support and advice on a one-on-one basis.

Her high energy and warmth are contagious. She is articulate, passionate and highly skilled at what she does.

“When I come home at the end of the day, I feel exhausted, that's for sure. And also, I feel at peace,” she says.

Carolyne is one of 400 peer educators who are part of a Global Fund-supported program aimed at reaching adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention, treatment and care. Girls are also taught about their rights and how to protect them and are provided with safe channels to report cases of gender-based violence.

Adolescent girls account for more than 25% of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, despite making up only 10% of the population.

Carolyne facilitates an HIV peer group meeting for adolescents aged 12-21.

Inspired by a loving father and healthy baby boy

Carolyne herself has experienced the panic and fear of receiving a positive HIV test as a teenager. She was 17 years old when she found out she was HIV positive and admits she lived in denial for years. It was when she became pregnant that she got on medication to protect her son and herself.

“I wasn't taking the medicine. I decided, okay, let me just do it for this baby. That was my turnaround point and I started adhering to my medication.”

Carolyne delivered a healthy boy who she named Phillip, after her father. She says it was her father who encouraged her to become a peer educator in her community and that he has been a constant source of love and support – even in the most difficult times.

“My dad is my best friend. I love that man so much. He never gave up on me. It's so special, it's something that I can't put into words,” she says.

Carolyne takes her antiretroviral treatment.

Carolyne prepares her son Philip for school.

Adapting rapidly to COVID-19

When COVID-19 hit Carolyne’s community, public gatherings, including adolescent support groups, were suspended. Schools were closed for a year, there was a curfew and many people were scared to visit health facilities for fear of contracting the new virus.

Globally, lockdown measures and school closures have been particularly dangerous for adolescent girls and young women, who have faced increased risks of domestic and gender-based violence when out of school and confined to their homes.

COVID-19 created a number of new challenges for Carolyne and her colleagues, but the peer educator network was able to adapt quickly to continue to provide essential services. This included door-to-door client visits where Carolyne would deliver ARVs to young people facing challenges with their treatment or who were unable to get to the health facility, provide support, counseling and check-in visits, and respond to suspected cases of violence.

“How I used to work changed. Movement was restricted so in a day we would visit two or three people. You also fear you can contract the disease yourself,” she says.

But despite these challenges Carolyne has continued her vital work throughout the pandemic.

The Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism funds were used to support peer educator’s work responding to clients who had experienced violence including linking them to lawyers for pro-bono legal advice, creating awareness on COVID-19 containment measures as well as other critical health referral services.

During a home-visit, Carolyne provides a client with their medications.

Carolyne speaks to a young client about her medications.

Carolyne talks to a participant at an HIV peer group meeting that she facilitates.

A bright future ahead

Today Carolyne says she is a very different person than the 17-year-old girl who was in denial about her HIV status. And in some ways, she even attributes her personal professional success to being HIV positive.

“If I was negative, I don't think I could have achieved what I've achieved now. Now, I think I'm more composed. I'm more educated,” she says.

Carolyne is most proud of little Phillip and is hopeful that her and her entire family have a bright future ahead. She is also committed to continuing to help other young women in her community.

“If I tell my story, a 17-year-old person will hear it, and he or she will be able to overcome the self-stigma that I had. He or she will be able to live a normal life. They will be able to give birth to a negative baby. He or she will be loved by the family, supported, and live a good life.”

It is expected that 20,000 adolescent girls and young women will be reached by 2024 through the vital work of Carolyne and the hundreds of other peer educators supported through Global Fund investments in five counties in Kenya.

Carolyne’s Fight: Ending HIV and Gender-Based Violence

Carolyne’s Fight: Ending HIV and Gender-Based Violence

Footnotes

Written by Melanie Sharpe. Photography: The Global Fund/Saiba Sehmi. With many thanks to the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Catholic Medical Mission Board.

FootNotes

Written by Melanie Sharpe. Photography: The Global Fund/Saiba Sehmi. With many thanks to the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Catholic Medical Mission Board.

© 2026 The Global Fund

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