The right to health is enshrined in the Kenyan constitution under Article 43 of the Bill of Rights. To further ensure access to health and other freedoms, the constitution devolves health functions to the 47 counties to ensure increased and accessible access to services for all Kenyans. 

The Kenya AIDS Strategic Framework (2014-2019) estimates that 1.6 million people live with HIV in Kenya. Over 80 per cent of total new infections in the country are among adults, and 65% of infections occur in 9 of the country's 47 counties. The trends in HIV have shown that key populations, namely, sex workers, men having sex with other men, and persons who use drugs, contribute significantly to new infections, an estimated 30% of new infections annually. 

Access to services among key populations has steadily grown with increased population- targeted prevention and treatment services and community partnerships. However, low and contentious key population size estimates and minimal inclusion of key populations in decision-making and implementation of programs continue to drive health inequalities and human rights violations among key populations, which, in turn, drive the spread of infectious diseases and heighten mortality. 

Human rights violations, punitive laws and policies leading to fear of arrest and incarceration, and stigma and discrimination have also limited a large number of key populations from accessing vital services. De-criminalisation, though recommended by the World Health Organization to reduce vulnerability to HIV and improve access to services, has not been adopted by Kenya. Despite the increased focus on key populations, the lack of adequate funding to reach all needing services with a comprehensive care package has resulted in low access to services. Current funding for key population programs in the country is mainly supported by donors such as PEPFAR and Global Fund. 

The Key Population Consortium is a collective of vital population-led networks representing organisations based in different parts of the country that advocate for access to services and implement HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment service delivery programs based on the principles of tolerance, partnership, freedoms and human rights. The Consortium brings together decades of experience and expertise in the response from older, more established networks and organisations and innovation from smaller, newly created networks and organisations to solidify the voice of critical populations that had previously been fragmented. 

The key population consortium was formed in response to the small number of key population-led organisations in decision-making spaces and implementation despite growing funding streams for key population programming. The Consortium;

1. Amplifies the voices of community-led, key population organisations in national programming for key populations in the country by focusing on the core strategic areas that can most impact the well-being of key populations- including transgender communities who have little to no programming- through network membership and their reach in high burden counties as well as the low burden counties in the country.
2. Increases advocacy by local grassroots community organisations by creating and increasing opportunities for the county-based grassroots organisations to join and steer the conversation around the HIV response with strategies that have a high impact and are acceptable and accessible by communities.
3. Advocates for increasing funding for all key population networks and organisations and for key population programming, especially with mainstream traditional donors like PEPFAR and Global Fund, to increase implementation of services by key population-led organisations to ensure increased reach and retention of key populations seeking services and address health programming gaps to ensure quality service delivery throughout the country for all key populations.
4. Leverages partnerships with government, development partners, civil society organisations, and local implementing partners to continuously strengthen health and participatory research accountability to ensure good practices and increase community-led research activities and human rights.