Kenya Faith Groups Struggle After US Cuts HIV Funding
Faith-based clinics and hospitals in rural Kenya are running short on antiretroviral drugs and staff after the United States ended HIV funding through USAID. Church-run health facilities, which serve a large share of Kenya's rural population, are now scrambling to fill the gap.
Church-run health facilities across rural Kenya are facing a supply crisis after the United States cut HIV funding that had flowed through USAID. The closures and funding gaps have left thousands of patients without reliable access to antiretroviral drugs and routine HIV care.
Faith-based organizations operate a significant share of Kenya's rural health infrastructure. Many of those facilities depended on USAID grants to cover medication costs, staff salaries, and laboratory supplies. When the funding stopped, some clinics reduced hours. Others ran out of drugs entirely.
Patients in remote areas face the longest journeys to alternative care. Public hospitals in larger towns are absorbing some of the overflow, but staff and supply shortages are straining those facilities as well.
Church leaders and health workers say the situation is worsening week by week. Some congregations have launched emergency fundraising campaigns to keep their clinics open. Others are appealing to European governments and private donors for replacement funding.
The cuts came after the Trump administration moved to wind down USAID operations as part of a broader federal spending reduction. Kenya was among the countries most dependent on U.S. HIV assistance, which had supported treatment programs for hundreds of thousands of people.
Global health advocates warn that interruptions in antiretroviral therapy increase the risk of drug resistance and can allow the virus to progress rapidly in patients who had been stable for years. They are calling on the U.S. government to restore at least emergency funding while longer-term alternatives are arranged.
