Open Letter to First Lady – Why I am Running in your ½ Marathon!

Dear Madam First Lady,

Here is the justification you provide for the half-marathon to be held on Sunday the 9^th of March, 2014:

“Over 5,500 women in Kenya die annually due to pregnancy and birth related complications. In 2012 alone, over 100,000 children below age five died before their first birthday. In the same year, there were over 13,000 new HIV infections among children, of whom 62% did not access life-saving medication.” 

As you very passionately note – “It doesn’t have to be this way”  

Why is this marathon of interest to me – a gay man in Kenya?

Now of course, every Kenyan should be concerned when over 5000 women die in easily avoidable pregnancy and birth related complications. Yet I could also say, this is a problem for heterosexual men – the same way heterosexual men talk, about the criminalization of gay men in Kenya. 

But I will join you in the Marathon so that we can jointly t work to reduce the number of deaths of children under 5, pregnancy and birth related deaths and indeed neonatal HIV infections. We know that birth related HIV infections can actually be eliminated. Kenya has over 13,000 new infections in this category, over 8000 of whom, never get to access life-saving ARVs. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. 

Additionally I know, what impacts the health of one individual in the society, directly or indirectly affects me. This is not just about the burden of disease in a country and the implied cost implications, but also social costs. When a mother of 5 dies during child birth, and her orphaned children cannot access education, the poverty implications, which may include engagement in crime affects all of us. 

But I have a self-serving reason for wanting to run in this Marathon (even with a training related injury).  I realize this campaign geared towards eliminating new HIV infections among children and keep their mothers alive 

But Madam First Lady, I want to steal you into a secret of a low lying fruit that can help attain your strategic objectives. We know that over 40% of MSM are in heterosexual relationships, and we know that HIV infections among the MSM are elevated because of a number of factors; not least is the need to hide, because of criminalization, which in turn denies them access to targeted health services.  This means that these men are less likely to know their HIV status or access HIV services if they are HIV+. This has implication for their female partners and their children. 

Madam First Lady, I do not have the evidence but it would not surprise me, if the stigma and discrimination encountered by the MSM trickles down to their female partners and their children. That is why I am presenting for you the request below:

Before presenting to you the request though, Madam First Lady, I wish to bring to your attention the findings of this Study findings . This  has demonstrated that partners with undetectable viral load  do not transmit HIV to their sexual partners. This requires them to be on treatment – with capacity for adherence.

You may know from this statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Health that:  “increased fear, stigma, discrimination and potential acts of violence against them limit their access to health services while continuing with risky behaviours.” 

This Madam First Lady means that in Kenya today, the female partners of the MSM and the children cannot enjoy the benefits of treatment as prevention. This is why then I am appealing for your support (in the same way am supporting your Marathon), in realizing the following requests:

Requests to the Beyond Zero campaign:

1.       Form a Reconciliation Committee that brings together the main stakeholders who have a stake on MSM health issues. These include MSM experts, The Religious/Moral Representatives, HIV and Legal experts. The task of this group should be to develop a road map for reconciling the various moral, legal and Human rights issues that prevent Key Populations from accessing HIV/AIDS including treatment to scale. 

This would be in line with your Campaign’s strategic objectives  (iii)  of Mobilizing men as clients, partners and agents of change, (iv) Involving communities to address barriers to accessing HIV, maternal and child health services and (v) of  Providing leadership, accountability and recognition to accelerate the attainment of HIV, maternal and child health targets.

2.       Request the President to suspend criminalization, of MSM for the duration of time that the Reconciliation Committee will be developing the reconciliation Road Map. During this time, we should also encourage research organizations, to study whether there is significant uptake of HIV prevention and treatment services and/or reduction in structural determinants of health that keep the MSM from services. This is in line with your Campaign’s Strategic Objective – (i) Accelerating HIV programmes

Madam First Lady, every Kilometers I will run on Sunday, with be a prayer request for you to do these two things, because I know, this approach is just like managing a financial portfolio reduces financial risk and increases investment returns in the long run. It is important to engage in what you are already doing for mothers and children, but it is also important to seal the holes that undermine the total output of your work.

The marathon will be a painful 21 kilometre run, but will be well worth the effort if you can kindly consider my request.

Thank You.