Like many other countries, Kenya has punitive policies, laws and practices that adversely affect people who use drugs and especially women. These punitive policies, laws and practices also limit research since the population to be involved in the research is already criminalized. Drug use among women in Kenya is also culturally unacceptable and women who use drugs experience a lot of stigma. This has led to limited research on women and drugs use to inform policies. Globally research has shown that women face unique issues when it comes drug use, in part influenced by sex (differences based on biology) and gender (differences based on culturally defined roles for men and women).