Persons living with HIV stand to bear the brunt of funding shortfalls in the response to the epidemic, with National Syndemic Diseases Control Council officials warning that the country’s hard-won gains are now fragile.
Appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health, the officials pushed the State Department for Medical Services to justify additional funding during scrutiny of the Budget Policy Statement (BPS).
Acting CEO of the Council, Douglas Bosire, told MPs that shifting global financing patterns, particularly funding cuts from traditional partners that have left critical gaps in HIV prevention programmes.
“We have made significant gains as a country, but those gains are very fragile,” Mr. Bosire said.
“There are areas of the response where we are not doing as well as we should if we are to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”
Bosire said that while donor partners are increasingly focusing on life-saving interventions such as care and treatment, prevention programmes—especially those targeting young people and vulnerable groups—have suffered.
“In 2024 alone, we recorded about 18,900 new HIV infections. Alarmingly, nearly 41 per cent occurred among young people aged between 15 and 24 years,” he told MPs.
He noted that community-based support groups, which previously encouraged pregnant women to attend antenatal clinics and undergo HIV testing, had been disrupted due to reduced donor support.
This, he warned, could reverse gains made in preventing mother-to-child transmission.
Kenya’s 2022 Demographic and Health Survey shows HIV prevention awareness among young people stands at about 55 per cent, a figure Bosire described as inadequate.
“Many young people today did not witness the peak of the epidemic. They fear pregnancy more than HIV, yet we are seeing high levels of unsafe sex,” he said.
According to the Council, Kenya reported an average of 651 teenage pregnancies per day in 2024, translating to about 140,000 cases annually—a trend closely linked to vulnerability to new HIV infections.
Bosire further warned that programmes targeting key and vulnerable populations, including female sex workers, people who inject drugs, transgender persons, and men who have sex with men, had also been scaled down.
“In 2010, key populations contributed 33 per cent of new infections. Through deliberate and targeted interventions, that dropped to 13 per cent by 2021,” he said. “Those gains were the result of strategic programming. Now, many drop-in centres have been affected because the staff and community-led initiatives were donor-supported.”
He cited voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) as one of the most cost-effective interventions, reducing the risk of HIV acquisition in men by about 60 per cent.
However, he said the programme had been heavily donor-dependent and has not been fully absorbed by counties.
“We need deliberate efforts to reactivate and re-engineer these effective interventions. Otherwise, we risk sustaining or increasing new infections,” he cautioned.
The Council has requested an additional Sh280.8 million above current BPS allocations to restore prevention programmes affected by funding cuts.
Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino sought clarity on whether the proposed allocation would be sufficient to reverse the rising trend in infections.
“When the US removed their funding, we lost gains. The graph of new infections and mother-to-child transmission has shifted. Is what you are asking for enough to reverse this trend?” Owino posed.
He urged the Council to formally document its justifications to support the committee’s push for an expanded budget ceiling.
“We must do proper justification when pushing for increased allocations. We were doing well. Now we need to reverse the situation and do even better before 2030,” he said.
Samburu County MP Pauline Lenguris backed the request, citing alarming trends in her county.
“In Samburu, infection rates are high and teenage pregnancies are high. We cannot assume people are safe. If this trend continues, we risk losing a generation. We must support the department,” she said.
Chuka/Igambang’ombe MP and Committee Vice Chair Patrick Munene emphasised the need to “protect the gains” made in HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria control over the years.
“We have paid heavily in this field and achieved a lot. If we let infections rise again, it will not only be a health crisis but an economic one,” he warned.
Munene also referenced ongoing engagements with the US government over HIV funding that is yet to be mainstreamed into the national budget due to pending legal and procedural issues.
Medical Services Principal Secretary Dr Ouma Oluga confirmed that discussions were ongoing but noted that the anticipated funds are not yet reflected in the current BPS.
“As of now, that money is not in the Budget Policy Statement. The National Treasury has until March 31 to finalise the development budget, and we hope outstanding issues will be resolved to allow mainstreaming of the funds,” he said.
Seme MP James Nyikal, who chairs the committee, observed that underfunded priority areas identified by the department exceed the available ceiling, urging the committee to prioritise critical interventions for lobbying purposes.
“We cannot double the budget overnight, but we must pick the most urgent areas to justify opening up the ceiling,” he said.
