Donor funding towards the fight against HIV/Aids has dropped from 90 to 60 per cent in the last 15 years, the National Aids Control Council has said.
The council challenged the government to address the funding gap left by donors to sustain the gains made.
The country’s HIV prevalence has dropped from 5.6 to 4.9 per cent in the last five years according to the latest data from the NACC.
Council deputy director in charge of HIV and investment Regina Ombam said the country had for years heavily relied on donor funding for control programmes.
“Donor funding has dropped from 90 to 60 per cent and we are happy that the government has taken over the balance of 40 per cent but there is a need to increase this,” she said.
Ombam said that it is possible the country will stop getting grants from donors and would be required to seek loans to sustain the fight against HIV Aids.
The senior officer spoke in Naivasha during a training workshop for Kiambu county officials on health governance and financing.
She praised counties for allocating sizeable funds towards health.
The council has trained officials from Homa Bay and Kiambu counties on health governance and financing, Ombam said.
“Counties should now focus on prevention campaigns as treating the disease is more expensive and requires the support of the national government and donors,” she said.
Sylvia Ojoo from Georgetown University said that they had already established the needs of residents of Homa Bay and Kiambu counties under the health governance project.
Ojoo said that they were working closely with boda boda operators, the youth and fisher-folk in Homa Bay in reducing the high HIV prevalence.
“We have over 40,000 boda boda operators in Homa Bay and we are reaching them through their organisations. In Kiambu we are using the church to get the high number of students,” she said.
Kiambu county Aids coordinator Josphat Maina attributed the cases of HIV there to drug and alcohol abuse.
“The most affected persons by HIV Aids in Kiambu are the young ones aged between 15 and 24 years and we are working with other agencies for prevention,” he said.
(edited by O. Owino)
