Kenya has joined the rest of the world in marking World AIDS Day.
The day is observed annually on December 1 to highlight progress made in the HIV response, acknowledge persistent gaps, and rally political and community commitment to ending AIDS.
The 2025 theme is 'Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response.'
It reflects the urgent need for sustained political leadership, international cooperation and a rights-centred approach to ensure the world remains on track to end AIDS by the year 2030.
According to the organisation, life-saving HIV services across the world are experiencing disruptions, even as communities continue to show resilience and innovation.
"After decades of progress, the HIV response stands at a crossroads. Life-saving services are being disrupted, and many communities face heightened risks and vulnerabilities," the global agency stated.
"Yet amid these challenges, hope endures in the determination, resilience, and innovation of communities who strive to end AIDS."
WHO estimates that by the end of the year 2024, about 40.8 million people were living with HIV globally, with 65 percent of them residing in the African region.
During the same year, approximately 630,000 died from HIV-related causes, and about 1.3 million acquired HIV.
Despite the grim figures, WHO says hope continues to lie in the unwavering commitment of communities, global solidarity, and the scientific advances that have turned HIV into a manageable chronic condition with proper treatment.
World AIDS Day 2025 also comes at a time when major shifts in global financing threaten to reverse gains made in low- and middle-income countries.
A new UNAIDS report, Overcoming Disruption: Transforming the AIDS Response, warns that sharp donor cuts are destabilising prevention, treatment, and community programmes across many countries, including Kenya.
According to the report, external funding reductions are forcing health systems to scale back critical services, leaving already vulnerable populations at greater risk.
Kenya is highly vulnerable to the funding crisis due to its heavy reliance on external support for HIV programs.
For example, the country’s largest donor, the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), is expected to reduce funding under the America First Global Health Strategy.
Winnie Byanyima, the Unaids Executive Director, said in a separate statement: “The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve. Behind every data point in this report are people—babies and children missed for HIV screening or early HIV diagnosis, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them. We must overcome this disruption and transform the Aids response.”
National analyses cited by UNAIDS show that only about 34 percent of Kenya’s HIV response is financed domestically, while 63.5 percent comes from external partners such as the Global Fund and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, commonly known as Pepfar.
For HIV care and treatment in particular, data from the National AIDS Spending Assessment for 2022, supported by UNAIDS, indicates that 84 percent of expenditure in this category came from external sources.
This shows how the country is left vulnerable to sudden shifts in global policy, including reductions linked to the America First Global Health Strategy, under which Pepfar funding is expected to decline.
In the statement accompanying the report, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima cautioned that the funding crisis threatens hard-won gains.
Despite its heavy reliance on donors, Kenya did not announce any new financial pledge during the recent Global Fund replenishment summit.
The Global Fund raised $11.34 billion globally, falling short of the $15b target, potentially tightening the funding environment further for recipient nations.
The Ministry of Health used this year’s commemoration to issue a call for urgent attention to the “triple threat” facing adolescents and young people in Kenya.
In its message for World AIDS Day 2025, the ministry said ending AIDS by 2030 requires protecting and empowering every young person, particularly those in high-risk settings.
"Today, as Kenya marks World AIDS Day 2025, we are reminded that ending AIDS by 2030 means confronting the triple threat facing our adolescents and young people: HIV infections,Teenage pregnancies and Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)," the statement reads.
The National AIDS and STI Control Programme, Nascope, echoed this, stating that Kenya must commit to safeguarding the well-being of high-risk populations who are often overlooked, including adolescents and young people who face elevated risks of HIV, unwanted pregnancies, and violence.
Nascope, leads Kenya’s HIV and STI response by developing policies, coordinating prevention and treatment services, guiding surveillance, and ensuring quality standards in testing, care and data reporting.
It works with counties, partners and communities to reduce infections and improve health outcomes nationwide.
Although Kenya is facing a tense funding outlook, the government has pointed to significant achievements over the past decade.
In a statement issued on August 6, 2024, the Ministry of Health reported a 68 percent reduction in AIDS-related deaths, declining from 58,446 fatalities in the year 2013 to 18,473 in 2022.
New HIV infections also dropped sharply from 101,448 in 2013 to 22,154 in 2022.
The Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Harry Kimtai, attributed this progress to sustained collaboration among stakeholders and emphasised the importance of developing a robust HIV Sustainability Operational Plan to preserve and expand the gains.
Kimtai described the plan as a blueprint that must reflect Kenya’s aspirations and realities, stressing the need for collective effort, innovative approaches and steadfast commitment.
“This plan will serve as our blueprint to preserve and build upon the gains we have made. It will require collective effort, innovative thinking, and steadfast commitment from all stakeholders involved," he said.
WHO, which has aligned its global HIV strategy with UNAIDS and the Global Fund under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending AIDS by 2030, describes HIV as a virus that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically targeting white blood cells.
This weakens the immune system and makes individuals more vulnerable to infections such as tuberculosis, certain cancers, and severe bacterial illnesses.
AIDS, the most advanced stage of HIV infection, occurs after years of untreated HIV.
Transmission, according to WHO, occurs through the exchange of certain body fluids including blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal fluids.
It can also pass from mother to child during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding.
HIV cannot be transmitted through everyday interactions such as kissing, hugging, shaking hands, or sharing food.
With consistent access to treatment, particularly antiretroviral therapy, people living with HIV can live long and healthy lives and, when their viral load is undetectable, cannot transmit the virus to sexual partners.
WHO emphasises that the virus though uncurable, can be prevented.
Prevention options include condom use, HIV testing, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, circumcision for men, and harm-reduction services for people who inject drugs.
It also endorses several forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis, including oral PrEP, the dapivirine vaginal ring and long-acting injectable medications such as cabotegravir and lenacapavir, the latter recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
WHO further notes that HIV can be diagnosed using rapid tests that provide same-day results, though infants require virological testing because antibody tests cannot reliably detect infection in children under 18 months.
Treatment remains centred on lifelong antiretroviral therapy, which suppresses the virus and restores immune function.
WHO states that people on effective treatment, with no detectable virus in their blood, will not transmit HIV.
It also highlights that advanced HIV disease is still a concern and requires specific clinical management to reduce illness and deaths.
As Kenya marks World AIDS Day 2025 amid global funding uncertainties, the country’s challenge is balancing the need to protect recent gains with the reality of declining support.
