NAIROBI, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Bramwel Agan Ura grew up in a low income suburb in the Kenyan capital Nairobi at a time when HIV/Aids wrought havoc on communities due to prohibitive cost of anti-retroviral therapy and ignorance on prevention tools.
The 22-year-old humanities major at a private university resolved at an early age to be an ardent champion for responsible behavior that would shield his peers from contracting the killer disease.
Ura is both an artist and social media influencer whose part-time job includes promoting awareness on HIV prevention, treatment and care to financially constrained urban youth.
Speaking to Xinhua on Monday during a forum to evaluate the success of a national strategy to eradicate HIV/Aids among adolescents and youth held, Ura said that his peers have been responsive to youth-centered campaigns urging them to keep the disease at bay.
"As youthful champions for an Aids free society, we decided to raise the bar in creating awareness about this disease using mediums that resonate with youth," said Ura.
"We have tapped into the power of social media and imagery to influence behavior change among youth who are at a higher risk of HIV infections," he added.
Ura is a currently a volunteer with a grassroots network that promotes HIV/Aids awareness in low income Nairobi suburbs where abject poverty, sexual violence, drug abuse and prostitution has always worsened the vulnerability of youth to the killer disease.
"We have been packaging youth-friendly information on HIV/Aids and disseminating it through social media platforms, graffiti and catchy posters and the outcomes have been tremendous," said Ura.
He noted that the youthful audience connects easily with anti-Aids campaigns that are packaged in an entertaining and simple format.
Ura is among a growing army of Kenyan youth who have been roped in by the country's ministry of health and partners to be on the frontline of fighting an epidemic that remains a leading cause of death among the country's productive segment of the population.
Statistics from National Aids Control Council (NACC) indicate that an estimated 300,000 adolescents and youth are living with HIV/Aids while this demographic comprise more than half of new infections.
Stella Kariti, a 21 years old grassroots campaigner in a densely populated shanty village in Nairobi said that traditional mediums of spreading the Aids message to the youth have failed hence the need to adopt new ones that connect with this age bracket.
"During my line of work as a community volunteer, I have come to appreciate the critical role of new media platforms to spread youth-friendly campaign against Aids," said Kariti.
"Every youth in my network is active on social media and we find it easy to reach out to them on latest information about prevention and treatment of HIV/Aids," she added.
Kariti is convinced that Kenya could win the war against Aids if the central and county governments involve the youth during formulation and implementation of critical HIV/Aids interventions.
"Our voices should be heard since HIV/Aids is currently taking a heavier toll on adolescents and young adults. Policy makers and funders should be sensitive to the needs of the youth when designing programs to fight this disease," said Kariti.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015 launched a national strategy to achieve HIV free status among the country's adolescents and youth by 2020 through robust awareness, testing, treatment and care.
Becky Nyambeki, the program officer in charge of adolescents and youth at NACC, said significant progress has been achieved since the launch of this strategy.
"We have witnessed reduction in new HIV infections among youth though some counties have stagnated due to resource and policy gaps. The youth must therefore own HIV/Aids interventions since they stand at higher risk of infection and death from the disease," said Nyambeki.
She proposed engagement of youthful campaigners who are more adept at communicating the Aids message in a format that is eye catching, trendy and persuasive.
Lewis Kimathi, a 22-years-old information sciences major from a Nairobi-based private university and a social media influencer, agreed that youth friendly messaging is key to winning the war against Aids in Kenya.
"The youth are no longer responsive to drab and old fashioned campaign messages delivered on traditional media platforms to warn them against the dangers of contracting the Aids virus," said Kimathi.
"Instead, they are paying close attention to information that is passed through social networking sites or trendy graffiti," he added.
