H.E president Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Cabinet Secretaries for Health and the National Treasury to jointly work on a solution to secure the essential commodities for the management and prevention of HIV and other strategic public health programmes.
The president speaking during the commemoration of World AIDS Day in Nakuru, 1 December 2021 noted that, he has initiated deliberate efforts to reform the country supply chain to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in delivering essential commodities to the last mile as well as taking necessary actions to mitigate on the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are also closely monitoring the Covid-19 related disruptions on the global supply chain and have put in place contingency measures, ”
H.E president Uhuru Kenyatta.
While acknowledging the progress made in control of HIV infections in the country, He noted the worrying trends of new HIV infection occurring amongst adolescents and young people. He pointed out that increasing numbers of teenage pregnancies has the potential to threaten the gains on socio-economic growth of the nation.
Speaking on the issue of men as perpetrators of teenage sex, the president called on a communal shared responsibility in ending teenage pregnancies. He called out for men to meaningfully engage in ending teenage pregnancy.
“This is no longer a state responsibility alone. We all need to join hands to end this menace. We should make it very uncomfortable for those in the habit of destroying our children’s lives for them to think twice before they engage in such an act”
Highlighting progress made since 2013, the president singled out successes in reduction on new HIV infection, AIDS related deaths and improved access to treatment. He said the country remain hopeful that we will achieve the 2030 goal.
The World AIDS Day was also simultaneously marked in the other 46 counties under the theme, “Ending Teenage Pregnancy towards elimination of new HIV infections and Inequalities.”
