Unlock HIV funds war chest
Activists demonstrate outside the Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi in April demanding that the government increases funds to support Kenyans living with HIV/Aids.
Fully financing the HIV response to get back on track to achieve the 2030 goals will produce substantial health, social and economic gains in Africa. But since 2008, donor funding has levelled off, partly in response to the global economic crisis but also due to the growing ‘backlash’ against Aids funding—a discursive shift evident before it.
One of the most successful US aid programmes, the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), which has saved 25 million lives in 20 years, faces a right-wing backlash. Misinformation has seen critics—both US and African groups—claim through two recent letters to the funders, US Senate and Congress, that it grantees use taxpayer funds “to promote a radical sexual and reproductive health agenda” and that it is “supporting so-called family planning and reproductive health principles and practices, including abortion, that violate our core beliefs concerning life, family and religion”.
With abortion illegal in many African countries where PEPFAR operates, it would be illegal for it to fund or support the practice. PEPFAR’s five-year budget is due for re-funding by the Senate and Congress by September 30. Some 20 million people living with HIV are on ARV medication thanks to PEPFAR, which also channels the US contribution to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
With the largest HIV epidemic worldwide, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced funding cuts of over $80 million since 2011. Governments have not only had fiscal challenges in supporting the national HIV programme but also inconsistent financial support and low community ownership and involvement.
The impact of PEPFAR is undeniable: The state of affairs is causing stock-outs of essential medicines and are threatening programmes that target people with specific needs. What will happen should the US Senate and Congress stop funding PEPFAR?
Are we ready to sacrifice African lives just to cement the anti-gender and -rights agenda?
Mr Mokaya is a sexual and reproductive health and rights expert. [email protected].
