We must unite against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria

A pharmacist puts medicine inside a bottle. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Kenya is pledging US$5 million to the Global Fund for the coming three-year funding cycle.

  • We all must come together and contribute to create enough impetus against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and other health concerns that continue to devastate our people.

At the turn of the millennium, Africa was hurtling down an incline towards a precipice. The 1990s had been labelled Africa’s “lost decade”, and for good reason. Besides declining economic growth, diseases were on the upswing. HIV, tuberculosis and malaria – some of the most devastating diseases facing our people – were killing millions every year on my continent. In the 1990s, some epidemiologists estimated that more than 60 per cent of hospital beds in many African countries were full of people suffering from AIDS-related illnesses. We were losing so many productive people that, in the worst-hit countries, we were recording a slowdown of about 0.6 per cent of per capita growth per year.

It was easy to lose faith in Africa those days. A leading international publication declared it “the hopeless continent”. However, our leaders, shouldering the heavy responsibility of saving the people, had a clear vision of what Africa needed. They made policies that created jobs and sent people back to work. They boosted agriculture, widened highways and fired up factories.

To support those sectors, Africa also needed to save the people who were dying and to keep them healthy. We needed to fight diseases. We were fortunate to have global health partners who stood with us in that time of need. Together with these partners, we have made tremendous gains against major diseases. AIDS, which was virtually a death sentence in those days, has been in decline. For instance, in the last decade, HIV related deaths in Africa have halved – from 1.5 million in 2004 to 790,000 in 2014. Malaria has also recorded a similar decline: between 2000 and 2013, deaths due to the disease in Africa decreased by an estimated 54 per cent.

GREAT PARTNERSHIPS

We have achieved this progress by creating great partnerships with bilateral and multilateral partners such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Our international partners have done tremendously well in walking shoulder to shoulder with us on this journey. Together, we have saved many lives. For instance, the Global Fund announced earlier this month that its partnership with countries has saved more than 20 million lives since 2002. In my country, Kenya, our partnership with the Global Fund has saved more than 300,000 lives. Together, we have achieved a lot in forcing these diseases into retreat. Were it not for such partnerships, the diseases would have continued to ravage millions of our people.

We have come a long way, and we can go much further. For instance, a number of countries in the southern African region are at an advanced stage of elimination of local transmission of malaria. In the fight against HIV in Kenya, we have put more than 800,000 people on HIV treatment, which has brought down the number of AIDS-related deaths by 58 per cent – from 85,000 in 2009 to 35,000 in 2015. We are at a point where we can defeat these diseases and end them as public health threats. To achieve that, we must invest more. We must commit ourselves more. On September 16 , I am joining other partners in Montreal, Canada, for the Global Fund’s Fifth Replenishment to raise resources for the next push against these diseases. It is an honour to be there under the invitation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is hosting the Global Fund Replenishment.

In the spirit of shared responsibility and global solidarity, African countries can commit to play a bigger role by investing more in their health through the Global Fund. Healthier people will mean a more productive populace, which can continue to bolster our economies. A 2013 Lancet Commission on Investing in Health called returns on investing in health impressive. Now, more than ever before, it is clear that we can defeat these diseases and save millions of lives of our people as well as transform our countries for good. However, if we take our foot off the pedal, these diseases can roar back. This is why we, as African countries, have a key role to play in co-investing in health with our partners.

Kenya is pledging US$5 million to the Global Fund for the coming three-year funding cycle. We all must come together and contribute to create enough impetus against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and other health concerns that continue to devastate our people.

Uhuru Kenyatta is the president of Kenya.