Nyumbani Lea Toto Community Outreach
Lea Toto provides community-based care for HIV/AIDS.
It’s hard enough to live and parent under crushing poverty. But for a family with a child suffering from HIV/AIDS in Kenya’s hardest-hit communities, it’s even worse: Life can be touch and go.
That is why we are here. Nyumbani helps families and communities heal.
Lea Toto means “to raise the child” in Swahili.
Nyumbani’s Lea Toto HIV/AIDS community outreach program operates eight centers (Kangemi, Kawangware, Kibera, Mukuru, Zimmerman, Kariobangi, Dandora and Dagoretti) and serves over 3,500 HIV-positive children and up to 14,000 family members every year.
Begun in 1998, Nyumbani Lea Toto is devoted to improving quality of life for HIV-affected children and their families.
Comprehensive, caring approach
Our comprehensive, caring approach and dedicated staff provide high quality clinical and nursing care for HIV/AIDS patients, as well as antiretroviral drugs, malnutrition treatment, health screening and monitoring, diagnostic testing and minor surgeries. Targeting mother-to-child transmission rates has dramatically reduced the number of cases passed from infected mothers to their unborn children.
Nyumbani Lea Toto also provides child development training, education, vocational training, caregiver training, food and nutrition counseling, psychological services, spiritual guidance, community-building training, and microcredit services for caregivers, among other services.
community-based care works. Enabling children and their families to live better in their own homes results in better outcomes and saves lives.
Empowerment
Nyumbani Lea Toto works to reduce the overall HIV/AIDS rate in Kenya through community awareness campaigns on preventive practices. We also present workshops focused on removing the stigma of HIV/AIDS.
Sixty self-help groups have been formed for Lea Toto caregivers and young adults. Participants learn marketable skills and receive training on best business practices. As a result, 60 percent of Lea Toto families are economically stable.
At Nyumbani we have a grander vision: to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in its tracks and to reduce its impact on communities.
One of the greatest challenges is the economic hardship of the children and families we serve, where first we must meet the basic needs of medical care, housing, and food.
Nyumbani Lea Toto’s success is borne out. We are making a difference, one child and one family at a time.