President Uhuru Kenyatta to lead Kenyans in marking World AIDS Day

President Uhuru Kenyatta will on Wednesday December 1 preside over the commemoration of the World AIDS day in Nakuru County.

The function which will be held at the Nakuru Athletic Club will coincide with the issuance of the municipality with a city status charter.

"This morning Kenya joins the rest of the world in marking the World AIDS Day, that will be graced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nakuru County. This day offers us an opportunity to reflect on the progress we are making as a county, as a country and as a global village, in addressing HIV and AIDS,” said Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui.

This year’s World AIDS Day national theme is; "Prevention of teenage pregnancies towards eliminating inequalities and new infections."

The president will thereafter issue Nakuru Municipality with a city status charter and launch various government projects in the region.

Today's World AIDS Day marks 40 years since HIV/AIDS was first reported in Kenya.

Kenya's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS have been successful in the past few years. For instance, in 2020, at least 42,000 new infections were recorded down from the early 2000s, when at least 700 people were infected daily.

Already, the Government is pursuing partnerships with local manufacturers for contract-manufacturing of HIV related commodities including Anti-Retro-Virals (ARVs) to ensure sufficient supply of the commodities.

Speaking at Afya House when she received a donation of 1800 packs of ARV drugs from Universal Corporations Limited, Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache noted that the challenges experienced in HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in the recent past arepartly attributable to emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

She also attributed the challenges to the ever-increasing burden of non-communicable diseases as she called for self-sufficiency in commodities for strategic health programs.

The PS revealed, that the Ministry of Health has prioritized optimization of ARV regimens to ensure people living with HIV receive the best medicine available in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

“The Ministry has also increased allocated funds annually for procurement of HIV commodities. In addition, we are investing in research and innovation to facilitate evidence based and focused interventions which will accelerate achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” she said.