December 17, 2009

U.S. Gives Kenya $2.7 Billion for HIV Prevention, Treatment

The United States committed $2.7 billion to help fight HIV in Kenya, where more than a million people are living with the virus, Reuters reports.

The money will be dispersed over the next five years as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest U.S. foreign aid program devoted to a single disease.

The funding, announced December 17, will aid more than 550,000 orphans and vulnerable children, and it will help manage related co-infections such as tuberculosis, said Kenyan Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to the article, this pledge represents a 112 percent increase in funding for the program in Kenya.

“Kenya is now the biggest recipient of this program in the world, more than South Africa,” said U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger.

Kenyatta added that HIV affects more than the physical health of Africans. “Studies assessing the effect of HIV/AIDS on economic growth in Africa show that we lose about 2 percentage points in terms of growth,” he said. “This is due to the negative impact of HIV/AIDS on productivity of labor.”

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