Reprive for Kenya as donors halt termination of funding
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Donors pledge to extend funding for Aids medicines beyond termination date, 2027 by three more years
Donors pledge to extend funding for Aids medicines beyond termination date, 2027 by three more years.
Patients living with HIV can now breathe a sigh of relief after donors pledged to extend funding Aids prevention and treatment for three more years.
Earlier, the donors had asked the government to start putting in place a sustainable funding mechanism before 2027, when they were initially expected to pull out.
The donors decided to extend that grace period for an additional three years, according to information from the Ministry of Health.
The announcement was made by Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai.
Kenya was expected to transition from donor reliance by 2027 after its economic status was revised from low income to a middle income country in 2014.
“By 2027, funders were to be packing and going away. We requested them to stay until 2030. It is only seven years away. Are we ready as a nation?” Kimtai posed when he declared the Maisha Scientific conference 2023 in Mombasa officially opened.
Kenya, over the past year has plagued with severe and multiple stockouts of essential HIV commodities from testing kits to ARVs, EID and viral load reagents.
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The donors had earlier agreed to gradually pull funding for malaria, HIV and Aids, reproductive health, blood services, immunisation, TB and drugs in the next five years.
For instance, immunisation programmes funded by Gavi, the vaccine alliance, was to end in 2027.
Family planning services is among interrupted donor programmes in the face of increased demand. Data from the Ministry of Health indicates that about 6.1 million women are using modern methods of contraception, an increase from four million in 2012.
The USA, which supports HIV programmes through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief’s (Pepfar), ended the support in 2019.
Its funding for HIV commodities has been shrinking over the years: from Sh17 billion to Sh11 billion, Sh9 billion to the current Sh7.3 billion.
This has affected blood services, leading to inconsistent supply of ARVs and testing kits, which affects the 1.5 million people living with HIV in Kenya, according to 2018 data from NACC.
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