Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) officially received the prestigious Red Ribbon Award during this year’s World Aids Day celebrations.

Presenting the award to KEHPCA’s Executive Director, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka congratulated Dr Zipporah Ali for the achievement.

“This is a very competitive award to bag and having it in Kenya shows the great strides KEHPCA is making towards care for AIDS patients in the country. You have made us proud as a country to be the first organization in Kenya to receive the Red Ribbon Award” Musyoka said.

He said if more organizations put commitment in management of HIV and AIDS as KEHPCA, Kenya would be miles away in the war against the epidemic.

UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Mayer Harper also congratulated Dr. Ali for the work that KEHPCA is doing to advocate for palliative care at the community level and said that KEHPCA would receive a grant of USD 10,000  to enhance the work it is doing.

Special Programmes Minister, Esther Murugi was also among those who congratulated KEHPCA for getting the prestigious award.

Murugi was among the African Political Leaders who participated in the Community Dialogue Space (CDS) in the Global Village at the International AIDS Conference 2012 (AIDS 2012), where she emphasized the need for palliative care for PLHIV.

The Red Ribbon Award is the world’s leading award for innovative and outstanding community work in the response to the AIDS epidemic.

KEHPCA is one of the ten community-based organizations worldwide, which have shown exceptional and inspiring action on AIDS and were honoured with the 2012 Red Ribbon Award in a special session of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) on 25^th July 2012. This is the first time an organization in Kenya has been selected for this award.

Five award categories were up for grab this year and KEHPCA managed to scoop the Treatment, Care, and Support category.

Other categories were Prevention of sexual transmission; Prevention among/by people who use drugs; Prevention of sexual transmission; Prevention among/by people who use drugs and Advocacy and human rights.