Kenya and Global Fund launch recent grants to sustain progress in fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria – updates

Kenya and Global Fund launch recent grants to sustain progress in fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria

June 28, 2024

– The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the Government of the Republic of Kenya and other health partners have launched six recent grants totaling US$407 million to support Kenya’s progress within the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, while strengthening health systems and communities across the country through the 2024–2026 grant period.

The grants – to be implemented by the National Treasury and civil society partners AMREF Health Africa and the Kenya Red Cross Society – will support Kenya’s progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through comprehensive prevention, treatment and care services. For HIV and AIDS, the grants aim to cut back recent HIV infections by 75%, AIDS-related mortality by 50% and mother-to-child transmission to below 5%. For tuberculosis, the ambition is to cut back morbidity and mortality rates by 80% and 90% respectively by 2030, in comparison with a 2015 baseline. For malaria, the first goal is to cut back morbidity and mortality from the disease by 75% by 2027.

The recent funding is along with US$66 million from the COVID-19 Response Mechanism, which focuses on supporting the strengthening of health systems and pandemic preparedness within the country over the period 2024-2025. These investments helped mitigate the impact of the pandemic on HIV, TB and malaria services and outcomes and strengthened key parts of the health system, including disease surveillance systems, laboratories and diagnostics, medical oxygen facilities, human resources and community systems, and health product and waste management .

The official opening of the grants took place on Monday, June 24 in Nairobi during a ceremony chaired by representatives of the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the National Treasury. Representatives of the governments of France, Italy and the United States were present, in addition to representatives of civil society, members of the National Coordinating Mechanism in Kenya, and other health partners and representatives of the Global Fund.

The ceremony was held at the brand new National Medical Supply Chain Center under the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA), a state-owned corporation of the Kenya Ministry of Health that manages the procurement, storage and distribution of medicines and medical supplies to over 8,000 healthcare facilities in Kenya’s public health sector. The recent warehouse will improve the delivery of primary care services and directly contribute to achieving UHC. It can even strengthen Kenya’s capability to answer pandemics and emergencies resulting from climate change, because the country grapples with severe weather events within the face of a growing climate crisis.

The total funding raised through the Global Fund is along with Kenya’s US$593 million co-financing commitment to strengthen the sustainability of national health financing to realize universal health coverage.

Kenya and the Global Fund have been partners since 2003 and have to this point invested a complete of $2 billion to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and Covid-19, and to strengthen health systems.

Over the past decade, Kenya has made impressive progress within the fight against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. In the case of HIV, the country has made progress towards Goals 95-95-95, reaching 94-94-89 in 2023 and maintaining nearly 1.4 million people on antiretroviral therapy. Regarding tuberculosis, the country achieved an 11% reduction within the incidence of tuberculosis between 2018 and 2020 and increased the treatment success rate from 81% to 87% for tuberculosis and from 70% to 77% for drug-resistant tuberculosis between 2015 and 2020. Between 2021 and 2023, greater than 7 million people were tested for tuberculosis. For malaria, the country has seen a decline in malaria incidence from 8.2% in 2015 to six% in 2023. Since 2014, almost 56 million long-lasting insecticidal nets have been distributed.

The Republic of Kenya can be a donor to the Global Fund and increased its commitment from USD 6 million to USD 10 million through the seventh replenishment of the Global Fund in 2022.