Don’t depend on foreign funding, Aids Control Council tells Gov’t

The Government has been challenged to look for ways to independently fund the health sector should donor funding, which caters for 70 per cent of the sector’s programs, dry up.

National Aids Control Council Deputy Director for HIV Investments Regina Ombam said that the state has tasked economists and members of the private sector to explore methods that could be used to fund the projects, adding that the experts are currently discussing critical issues that will see the future financing of the HIV programs.

Ombam adds that the Government should take ownership of the health sector by being the lead funder of projects in the sector, adding that this was a more sustainable model as funding from development partners is dwindling by the day.

Ombam said that NACC was tasked with the coordination of Kenya’s response to HIV, and they are planning how they will execute their mandate should foreign funding dry up.

She said that the experts are reviewing the already existing studies and the return of the HIV investment and health in general with aim of using the efficiency gains around the intervention in health and HIV.