Health GAP: PEPFAR Funding Cuts Threaten the Future of People Living with HIV in Kenya
Maureen Milanga, associate director of international policy and advocacy at Health GAP, examines PEPFAR’s Country Operating Plan (COP) process for Kenya and the implications of proposed funding cuts for HIV efforts in the country. Milanga writes, “As the program begins to implement COP19 we call for PEPFAR to reverse the approval memo’s recommendation to decrease COP19 funding further. This will jeopardize the country’s ability to reach out to people who have slipped through the cracks of the HIV response. Instead the program needs to channel funds to improving outreach to hard-to-reach communities such as men, invest in quality diagnosis for pediatric that allow the program to offer children quality services such as same-day initiation, and invest in a community-based system that allows people living with HIV that are afraid to get test[ed], an easy opportunity for testing” (11/4).