Journalists who covered and were psychologically affected by last year’s post election violence are now going to benefit from a trauma counseling programme that was launched last week.

Organized by the Kenya Association of Photographers, Illustrators and Designers (KAPIDE) and Kenya Correspondents’ Association (KCA) and funded by International Media Support (IMS), the programme will provide trauma counseling to a total of 150 journalists.

Caused by tse tse flies and rated as one of the neglected tropical ailments in the developing world, the disease is already spreading to new areas of Uganda where it was once eradicated.

A new study released last week  shows that 40 percent of health workers in  public, private, faith based and non governmental health facilities exhibit stigma and discrimination tendencies against HIV Aids positive patients.

 Conducted between 2006 and 2007 in the country’s five provinces, the study reveals how government hospitals are operating without standard policy guidelines for People Living with HIV Aids (PLHIV), despite the policy documents lying at the Ministry of Health.

As she walks through her neighborhood, she points to houses that were abandoned during the post-election violence. She gestures toward hills that are scorched black by the fires that razed Kikuyu shambas to the ground.

Despite her difficult pregnancy, the moment she held baby Musingo in her arms, she new she wanted to have a second child, maybe even more.

Even though Akinyi’s dream of having another child is only two weeks away, the 24 year old says this is a pregnancy she wishes she had postponed.

 For children in areas affected by the post-election violence, school is one area they would avoid if they had an option.

Stories coming from the affected areas indicate that children are being subjected to tribal slurs and persecution for belonging to certain communities.