Kenya on Friday announced the country’s donation of $5 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria making the country one of the highest contributors from Africa.
The east African nation’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed made the announcement on behalf of President Uhuru Kenyatta at the Global Fund Replenishment conference which is ongoing in Montreal, Canada.
“The Global Fund has played a major role in supporting Kenya’s success in combating HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria over the years,”she said.
The donation by the government is part of the concept of ‘giving to receive’ in which countries that benefit from the global fund also make contributions. In the next three years, Kenya is expected to receive more than $337 million (Sh34 billion) from the Global Fund.
Kenya runs the 7th largest Global Fund portfolio and its donation is part of its commitment to ensure the fund achieves the goal of combating the three diseases.
The fund aims to ensure that by 2030 Aids, TB and malaria will no longer be a public health threat.
Some of the contributors who made large donations included the US, France, Canada, the European Commission and Netherlands.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau while opening the conference said the struggle against the three diseases was not over but they could be eradicated if the world worked together.
He said the days of isolationism were gone and the world should engage in partnerships to manage challenges including Aids, TB and malaria.
According to the Africa Review, Kenya has invested more than $54 million in the last two financial years as its contribution and counter fund to the Global Fund and other partners’ investment in AIDS, TB and malaria interventions.
The country has 950,000 people living with HIV enrolled in life long anti-retroviral treatment, and who will receive ARVs for the next 70 years, if a cure is not found.
Other countries from Africa that made contributions included South Africa, which also pledged $5 million and Namibia which contributed $1.5 million.
