Nyanza region (counties like Kisumu, Homa Bay, Siaya, Migori) has historically had one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Kenya. Young women, especially those aged 15–24, are disproportionately affected.Young women contribute a large share of new infections; in Nyanza, about 41% of new adult infections are among females aged 15–24Risk increases rapidly with age: […]

There is a phrase that runs through KISWA’s DNA: nothing about us without us. It is not a slogan. It is an organisational principle, a hiring practice, a design philosophy, and an accountability standard. KISWA is a sex worker-led organisation. That means the people making decisions — setting priorities, designing programmes, representing the community to […]

KISWA was not built in a boardroom. It was built in response to a crisis — a series of brutal killings, of foreign objects inserted into the bodies of sex workers, of arbitrary arrests carried out with impunity. It was built because no one else was coming. That founding emergency has never fully resolved. Violence […]

For many sex workers in Kenya’s Nyanza Region, walking into a health facility is not a simple act. It can mean risking exposure, judgment, and outright refusal of care. Nurses who ask intrusive questions. Doctors who lecture instead of treat. A system built around assumptions — and none of those assumptions favour sex workers. KISWA […]