KENYA – — Triggerise has received a US$1 million grant from Elton John AIDS Foundation to empower young people in Kenya to take control of their mental and physical health.
The grant will fund essential mental health offerings that will be fully integrated with Triggerise’s pre-existing sexual and reproductive health services for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 over the next three years.
Triggerise partnered with the Elton John Foundation to ensure that Triggerise associated clinics in Mombasa County, Kenya provide mental health screening and services including individual and group counselling along with trauma-based care.
The partnership will also ensure that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) services are a part of Triggerise’s established offerings in Mombasa together with boosted access to reproductive health services.
Triggerise will collaborate with its existing private sector network of clinics and expand its platform coverage to incorporate public sector clinics that provide essential HIV services as well as to support young people who test positive for HIV.
Under the deal, HIV positive people will be enrolled onto Triggerise’s mobile-powered platform to connect them to appropriate health services at no cost.
The digital platform will track user’s HIV care journey in a confidential manner with an aim to keep them on treatment and access to crucial health services while allowing youth to give feedback on service experience in order to meet young people’s changing needs.
Chief Operating Officer of Triggerise Richard Matikanya noted that the partnership will allow the data-driven organization to contribute to the evidence base on how to ensure that young people have access to mental health services that respond to their needs on their terms.
“The timing of this health investment is particularly exciting with the growing mental health burden among young people in their diversity that has largely been overlooked particularly those living with HIV,” said Richard Matikanya.
Anne Aslett, Chief Executive Officer of Elton John AIDS Foundation acknowledged that Triggerise’s easy-to-use youth centric platform has the potential to reach underserved and discriminated against young people.
“The Elton John AIDS Foundation is very excited to partner with the innovative team at Triggerise to expand its existing programme for young people to include services to support their mental health since mental health and physical health are syndemic,” added Anne Aslett.
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