•Last year, Pepfar gave Kenya about Sh40.7 billion mostly for drugs and test products for one year, ending September this year.
•Dr Ruth Laibon-Masha, CEO of the NSDCC, said the number of new HIV infections in the country dropped from 34,540 to 22,154 in 2022.
Image: JOHN MUCHANGI
Donors have agreed to continue buying ARVs and HIV test kits for Kenya until 2030, the Ministry of Health says.
Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said the country was expected to transition out of most donor support by 2027.
He said Kenya has now seven years to start footing its HIV-related activities bill.
“By 2027 funders were to be packing and going away. We requested them to stay until 2030. It's only seven years away. Are we ready as a nation?” Kimtai said at the ongoing Maisha Maisha HIV/AIDS conference in Mombasa.
The biannual meeting is Kenya’s flagship conference on HIV, bringing together government officials, researchers, development partners, civil society and the private sector, among others.
Kimtai said currently, Kenya’s funding for HIV has up by 33 per cent, mostly covering salaries of health workers.
“Through gradual increments, we have boosted the domestic funding pool for HIV by 33 per cent. Our contributions extend to numerous scientific research endeavours that have catalysed breakthroughs in the management of HIV,” he said.
The US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief contributes more than 50 per cent of total HIV/Aids funds in Kenya every year with the rest coming from Global Fund.
Last year, Pepfar gave Kenya about Sh40.7 billion mostly for drugs and test products for one year, ending September this year.
Pepfar has approved another allocation of $346,250,000 for 2023-24 and $327,917,500 for 2024-25.
The country is also utilising a Sh50 billion grant from the Global Fund to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
The cost of maintaining one patient living with HIV with drugs and associated expenses is about Sh20,000, according to various estimates.
Kimtai said Kenya might be unable to foot the bill if new infections continue at the current rate.
“Kenya has 1.4 million people living with HIV. We will drain our economy if we don’t control infections. We need an HIV trust fund to take care of expenses in HIV,” he said.
Brian Rettmann, the Kenya Pepfar coordinator, also said the fund expects countries to do more.
“We are encouraging recipient countries to put together HIV financing roadmaps,” he said.
Dr Ruth Laibon-Masha, CEO of the NSDCC, said Kenya has the seventh highest HIV burden in Africa.
She said the number of new HIV infections in the country dropped from 34,540 to 22,154 in 2022.
Masha also said the country has achieved a 68 per cent reduction in Aids-related fatalities, since 2013.
“Kenya has also seen a substantial decline in new HIV cases, further complemented by the expansion of access to ART medicine. Approximately 1.2 million individuals have been accessing treatment since 2013,” she said.
Masha affirmed that the nation's experts have consistently contributed to HIV research at both national and international levels.
"As a country, some of the milestones we have had is because we have remained at the centre of scientific advancement. There is no HIV research that has been done without experts from Kenya contributing, both at the national and international levels," she said.
Nelson Otwoma, head of Nephak, a lobby for people living with HIV, said the country must increase its funding for HIV.
“We still have a significant disease burden in many areas. We have seen progress in raising domestic resources but this is painfully slow,” he said.
HIV funding from Pepfar has been reducing since 2018.