Kenya Receives Lion's Share of US HIV/Aids Funding

Kenya has received the lion's share if US funding on HIV/Aids due to increased HIV infections.

Kenya will receive the largest recipient of the US government funding on the Viral disease even as President Donald Trump’s administration push for slashing of the funding.

The US Embassy in Nairobi said Kenya will get $500 million of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief or PEPFAR. The fund supports HIV/Aids treatment, testing and counselling for millions of people worldwide.

The US Senate approved roughly $6 billion (Sh618bn) last week, to benefit more than 50 countries.

Trump’s administration requested the programme be slashed by $1 billion earlier this year, which could have seen the aid to Kenya reduced by nearly 10 per cent.

“In FY18, the PEPFAR budget for Kenya is $500 million (51.5 billion KSH). Kenya is currently the largest funded PEPFAR program in the world and also gets the largest US funding on health,” said the US Embassy in Nairobi.

Kenya has been categorized in countries with relatively high HIV new infections, especially among adolescents and young people of age between 15 and 24.

National Aids Control Council (NACC) data shows Kenya had 72,000 new HIV infections among adults in 2015, down from 88,000 recorded in 2013.

“As we make progress, the numbers are still unsustainably high,” said Nduku Kilonzo, the director of NACC, adding that 46 per cent of the new infections were among adolescents and young people.

Kenya is also listed in the countries with the lowest antiretroviral coverage, at 39 per cent, a global study by Lancet indicates, and below the regional average that stands at 43 per cent.

PEPFAR will majorly focus its efforts on 13 countries that are nearing epidemic control - the point where there are more deaths each year from Aids than there are new HIV infections.

Kenya, Zambia, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Lesotho, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Haiti and Rwanda are the 13 countries PEPFAR will pay extra attention on.