Half a year into the AHADI Project, the rhythm of work in Temeke has shifted. What started as a mapping exercise in May has become a weekly cycle of outreach, referrals and clinical follow-up across Tandika, Temeke and Azimio wards.
Meeting people where they are
AHADI's central insight is operational, not philosophical: KVPs will not come to a clinic that has historically rejected them. So ASUTA's peer educators and healthcare providers go to them — at hotspots, in bars, at hostels, in the early hours of the morning when traffic thins out and conversations can actually happen.
The package on offer now includes psychosocial support, healthcare referrals, family planning, condom distribution, STI and GBV screening, and — critically — linkage into Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) for people who use substances.
The OST corridor
- Direct, escorted referrals from outreach points to Sandali Dispensary
- Adherence follow-up by peer educators who themselves have lived experience
- Integrated SRH services so clients aren't asked to navigate multiple visits
- Ongoing dialogue with Temeke Municipal authorities and the police to reduce raid-driven service interruptions
“KVPs face many challenges — stigma, discrimination and police raids. There is still work to do to shift how the community sees them, but the door to services is open and it is staying open.”
— ASUTA AHADI field team, TemekeEducation sessions that go both ways
Alongside biomedical services, ASUTA runs sensitisation and SBC sessions — for KVPs themselves, on SRH, family planning and how to respond to rights violations; and for partners, families and frontline officers, on why coercive policing damages public-health goals more than it advances them.
Looking towards project close
AHADI is a short engagement, but the relationships it has built in Temeke are not. ASUTA has worked with this Municipal Council for more than a decade and is already in conversation with partners about what comes after AHADI — loan opportunities for graduating KVPs, volunteer pathways into ASUTA's wider programmes, and warm hand-offs to other organisations operating in the wards.