The Government is exploring alternative health financing strategies to sustain essential medical programmes and strengthen health care systems amid declining international funding.
Health cabinet secretary Deborah Barasa says there’s a need for sustainable health financing through domestic resources.
“At this juncture, I believe that it is critical for us to think of sustainable solutions and domestic health financing. And part of it is through TAIFA care, and that is through the Social Health Authority, where we will be having funding from the Social Health Insurance to ensure that we are also looking into the concerns of HIV, TB cases, and also patients who have malaria or other forms of support that the US government has been offering,” CS Barasa said.
Speaking at the Nyahururu Referral Hospital during her tour of Laikipia County, Barasa also called on Kenyans to register with the Social Health Authority to secure access to quality healthcare services.
This as Kenya is set to integrate HIV and TB management into routine healthcare services, moving away from standalone programmes. This shift aims to support patients who relied on USAID for treatment.
The move comes as the US, through PEPFAR and USAID, has been a key supporter in treating TB, HIV, AIDS, and malaria, as well as funding medical research.
Over the last 40 years, the US government has been supporting treatment that has reached 3.7 million Kenyans with HIV medications, according to the Ministry of Health.
While the move to integrate the treatment is not new, it has received new impetus after the decision by US President Donald Trump to suspend foreign aid for three months.
The government has been exploring ways of integrating the treatment of HIV and TB in hospitals since last year. In July 2024, the Ministry of Health established a team to strategise on integrating HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support into primary healthcare.