“Breaking the Silence”: Using Theatre for Development to Promote PrEP Uptake and Confront HIV Stigma Among Youth in Western Kenya.

Youth in Western Kenya remain disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, despite widespread awareness of prevention tools such as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). While medical interventions exist, cultural stigma, myths, and lack of youth-friendly communication continue to hinder PrEP uptake.

This proposal outlines a theatre-based intervention to bridge the gap between knowledge and action by confronting stigma, encouraging dialogue, and promoting uptake of PrEP among young people. Many young people in Western Kenya continue to contract HIV, even though prevention methods like PrEP are available. This is largely due to entrenched social stigma, myths, and misinformation that discourage its use. The intervention seeks to address this disconnect between awareness and behavioral change using culturally relevant and emotionally engaging theatre performances.

The primary target group is youth aged 15–24 years in rural and peri-urban communities of Western Kenya. Secondary audiences include caregivers, teachers, community health workers, and local opinion leaders, who influence youth behavior. This multi-layered approach aims to create an enabling environment for informed, stigma-free choices.

Our theatre-based approach confronts HIV-related stigma and misinformation directly in the community by using relatable storytelling and participatory performance. It turns awareness into dialogue and action by engaging youth emotionally and socially, creating safe spaces for honest conversations and linking them to trusted health services for PrEP uptake.

Unlike traditional awareness campaigns, this intervention uses Theatre for Development to engage youth as both performers and change agents. The performances are locally scripted, culturally grounded, and emotionally powerful—allowing the audience to see themselves in the story and shift attitudes from within the community, not imposed from outside. If successful, this initiative will reduce stigma, increase PrEP uptake, and inspire community-led support for HIV prevention. It will build a generation of youth empowered to make informed sexual health choices, serve as peer educators, and sustain long-term change in HIV prevention behaviours across Western Kenya.

Existing alternatives include radio campaigns, clinic-based peer education, and social media messaging. While these efforts raise awareness, they often lack the interactive, community-centered engagement needed to challenge stigma and shift behaviours meaningfully at the grassroots level.

Theatre for Development has a proven track record in behaviour change communication, especially in culturally sensitive issues. Our past engagements have shown that when youth participate as storytellers, they own the message. Community members respond positively to local, live performances, making the approach both credible and relatable.

The biggest challenge may be community resistance due to entrenched beliefs or discomfort discussing sexuality publicly. Additionally, sustaining momentum beyond initial performances requires strong local partnerships. To overcome this, we plan early stakeholder engagement and training local youth to ensure ongoing community ownership and support.