Key Population Community HIV Services for Action and Response (KP CARE2)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding Key Population Community HIV Services Action and Response (KP- CARE 2) project through a consortium led by Society for Family Health, and includes Access to Good Health Initiative; Passion and Concern for Women Welfare and Empowerment Initiative to optimize the impact of Key Population (KP) Programming across HIV continuum of care through access to quality HIV prevention, treatment and care services for KPs and other vulnerable populations.

It is a 5-year cooperative agreement from September 4, 2019 through September 3, 2024 to allow at least 95% of KP living with HIV know their status, to reach at least 95% of KP who know their HIV status with treatment, care and support services and finally to ensure that at least 95% of KPs on treatment have their HIV suppressed.

The key populations to reach with interventions on the program are:

• Female sex workers (FSW)
• Men who have sex with men (MSM)
• People who inject drugs (PWID)
• Transgender
• Prisoners and people in closed settings such are the internally displaced persons

The KP- CARE 2 program is commencing work in Adamawa and Bauchi; two states that have had minimal KP programming over the past few years. KP programming was last undertaken in 2015 during the World Bank HIV/AIDS Fund (HAF) program.

The theory of change of the project is based on the assumption that if access to quality HIV services for KPs is increased, then utilization by KPs will increase and the burden of HIV will decrease among KPs and in Nigeria overall.

The goal of KP- CARE 2 is to reduce the rate of new HIV infections and minimize the impact of HIV on key populations in Nigeria and therefore assist in attaining HIV epidemic control. To achieve this goal, the SFH consortium will work with KP communities and relevant state structures to optimize access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care services across three result areas namely:

1. Result 1: Increased demand for and access to comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment services and interventions for KPs.
2. Result 2: Strengthened sustainability and organizational systems for program and data management and quality assurance of program by KP-competent and KP-led civil society.
3. Result 3: An enabling environment established for KP community-based programming through advocacy, data management systems and other interventions promoting KP-supportive health policy, ideas, norms, and human rights.

The KP CARE 2 project approach will utilize the one stop shop (OSS) strategy. This strategy is an integrated community delivery approach to reach KP with health services in a gender responsive manner using a rights based model. The OSS serves 2 broad purposes:

• Safe spaces that serve as education and entertainment centers where KPs can congregate freely for meetings and social activities.
• Safe spaces that serve as centers where KP can access high quality, robust HIV and STI interventions and other wrap around services.