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In Kenya, HIV/AIDS is concentrated among the most productive age group - parents and caregivers. Nyanza province is one of t he worst hit, initially reporting a prevalence rate of 28%. Active labor has been lost, children orphaned and many have dropped out of school. Families are becoming poorer. CMA joined the fight against AIDS in 1999 through the CLEAR (Community Leaders Educated Aids Response) program based in Nyanza province. CLEAR runs in three phases:
(I) Awareness creation
(II) Home based care and medical support
(III) Widows and orphan support program.
This program encourages community members to reach to their own. Members receive training on  HIV/AIDS. They go round the villages and to public gatherings, educating and sensitizing their community on how to avoid infection, and re-infection while fighting myths that AIDS is a curse and social stigma. CLEAR also provides People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) with counseling and medical support to fight opportunistic infections; and identifies poor affected families that CMA assists in developing small businesses; helping them to earn an income for food and school. In 2007, CLEAR started a housing project - “Units of Hope” in support of widows and orphans. Each unit consists of a two-roomed house, a bed and mattress, a latrine, shower and water storage tank. CMA also initiated a goat project to provide widows and orphans with milking goats for milk production and income-generation. CMA’s contribution towards fighting HIV/AIDS in Nyanza has led to a significant drop in new infections from 28% to 14% in less than ten years.
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