Hazel Ong'ayo Ayanga is a Kenyan theologian whose work focuses on the care and empowerment of orphans, vulnerable children and women affected by HIV/AIDS.
She is an associate professor of Religious Studies at Moi University, Kenya and also researches spirituality in clinical settings, religion and social change in Africa and the centrality of ritual in human life.
[3] Her areas of research are on the care and empowerment of orphans, vulnerable children and women affected by HIV and AIDS, spirituality in clinical settings, religion and social change in Africa and the centrality of ritual in human life.
She won a Course Competition Award from the Centre for Theology and Natural Sciences (CTNS) in Berkeley, California in 2003 and the Indiana University Health and Values grant in 2019.
[7] She shows how the Circle, through research and publications, created awareness of the woman's face of HIV/AIDS in Africa where women are victims of negative cultural and religious beliefs and remain vulnerable and susceptible to HIV infections.
[7] She also wrote on "AIDS, Science and Religion in Africa" where she views HIV/AIDS as not just a medical problem in Africa, but also a socio-economic, psychological, cultural and spiritual problem since the menace is associated with intersectional factors such as gender disparity, poverty, attitudes towards those infected and affected, beliefs and cultural practices which influence the management of the disease in the continent.