# Sustainable Development for Improved HIV Health and Prevention in Kenya (SD4H-Kenya)

> **NIH NIH D43** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2023 · $100,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Older women form the largest group of older people (50+ years) living with HIV (OPLWH) and suffer poorer
mental health and quality of life than older men. The experiences of stigma are layered for older women living
with HIV including HIV- and aging-related stigma and gender discrimination. Widowed women make up the
largest group of OPLWH and due to heightened gender inequalities and the stigmatization of female
widowhood in Africa, widowed women living with report poorer HIV-related health outcomes compared to
married women living with HIV. This study will compare the experience of intersectional stigma (HIV, aging,
gender, poverty, widowhood) among older widowed and married women living and aging with HIV, how this
impacts their mental health and quality of life, and their ideas on interventions that can reduce intersectional
stigma and improve their quality of life. This study will also assess the association of experienced intersectional
stigma with mental health and quality of life, and how these may differ between widowed and married women
with HIV aged 50+ years.
The project lead, Ms. Odhiambo, is doctoral candidate at Maseno University and a Ph.D. fellow in the parent
grant Sustainable Development for HIV Health (SD4H) training program. SD4H aimed to provide training and
team mentorship to graduate students at Maseno. Ms. Odhiambo completed her year-long Advanced Training
in Clinical Research certificate at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and is doing field work for her
PhD project in Kenya. Her soon to be published study showed that a multisectoral intervention failed to
address experiences of enacted stigma among widows living with HIV, necessitating further research on
stigma among women living with HIV and interventions to address the stigma. Ms. Odhiambo’s work is built
upon the theory of stigma as a fundamental cause of population health disparities. Stigma creates a loss of
social and economic resources, increasing food insecurity, poverty, and poor health.
Strengths and innovation: This supplement study is among the first evaluating the association of
experienced intersectional stigma and quality of life among older women living with HIV in Africa. Secondly, we
will adapt the everyday discrimination scale (EDS), another scale developed in the USA context and use it in
the local Kenyan context to measure experienced intersectional stigma. The design of EDS is adaptable and
allows for measurement of different forms of stigma. Thirdly, we will sample study participants from a
population-based health and demographic surveillance system ensuring study participants are a representative
sample of the general population of women living with HIV and aged 50+ years. This administrative
supplement will support Ms. Odhiambo’s transition from doctoral to post-doctoral studies while still receiving
the team mentorship from the parent grant multiple principal investigators. The study will also generate idea...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10872887
- **Project number:** 3D43TW011306-04S2
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elizabeth Anne BUKUSI
- **Activity code:** D43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $100,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2023-09-18 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10872887

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10872887, Sustainable Development for Improved HIV Health and Prevention in Kenya (SD4H-Kenya) (3D43TW011306-04S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10872887. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*