US Aid Freeze Stymies Distribution Of HIV Medicine In Kenya

Reuters (3/11, Ross, Cocks, Wandera) reports that since the US government instituted a 90-day foreign aid freeze on January 20, distribution from a warehouse that “stocks all U.S. government-donated HIV medicine to Kenya” has ceased, “leaving supplies of some drugs worryingly low, according to a former USAID official and a health official in Kenya.” Although the State Department “issued a waiver last month exempting funding for HIV treatment from the freeze,” the USAID payment system “in Kenya is down after the cuts, meaning contractors who implement the programmes cannot be paid, said Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin, who was the deputy head of communications for USAID, East Africa, until resigning on Feb. 3 in protest.” Kenyan officials believe “about $10 million is needed” in order to “distribute the $34 million worth of medicine and equipment at the warehouse.” Knowles-Coursin “told Reuters the commodities at the warehouse include 2.5 million bottles of ARVs, 750,000 HIV test kits and 500,000 malaria treatments.”