Obama reduces Aids funds in 2013 budget

US President Barack Obama has proposed a cut in the amount of money Kenya receives to fight Aids.

Budget proposals released on Monday show a projected 44 per cent drop in the State Department’s global health account for Kenya.

Financing for programmes including the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) would fall from Sh4.1 billion ($499 million) in the 2011 financial year to Sh2.2 billion ($277 million) in 2013. (READ: Kenya battles huge funding gap in Aids treatment plans)

Ambassador Eric Goosby, the US global Aids coordinator, defended Mr Obama’s Pepfar budget for Kenya in a State Department blog posting on Monday.

“Kenya is an example of a mature programme. We are thus able to adjust its funding to match its capacity to absorb funds through new mechanisms,” Mr Goosby wrote.

He further explained that purchases of cheaper generic drugs and greater reliance on local medical personnel in Pepfar recipient countries have “dramatically decreased the per-patient cost of providing treatment and other services.”

“We have reduced Pepfar treatment costs from $1,100 to $335 per person,” Mr Goosby said.

President Obama’s budget package also proposes an increase in US development funding for Kenya from $76 million in 2011 to $93 million in 2013. 

Tanzania’s Pepfar’s allocation has risen from $336 to $344 million. Uganda’s funding has declined by 9 per cent to $281 million.