In Nanyuki, a market city in the north -Mount Kenya, some workers and foreign aid volunteers are concerned about what United States President Donald Trump, The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development It will mean for the people there.
« It’s a concern. It’s a real problem, » said Rex Taylor, co -founder and president of the small project, a registered Canadian charity organization that helps send children to school in Kenya Rural.
« According to my judgment, it means that people will be unnecessary, » CBC News told an annual visit to Nanyuki.
Kenya has one of the highest HIV rates in the world, occupying the eleventh place with a prevalence of 3.7 percent by 2022, according to the World Health Organization. According to non -profit, approximately 1.4 million Kenyans are positive in HIV Be in the knowledge. AMFAR, the AIDS Research Foundation, says that about 1.3 million people are undergoing HIV/AIDS treatment in the country.
Kenya is based on U.S. direct funding for 29 percent of HIV -related expense, According to non -helped – The tenth most trusting country in the world.
Taylor says his concern is that Trump’s Freeze Freezing could affect his access to antiretroviral medication (ARV), which prevents HIV from replicating the body.
But in particular, Taylor says he is worried about Joseph Awoi, a 20 -year -old culinary student in Nanyuki. Taylor, who lives in Newmarket, ont., Has supported Awoi’s education through the small project since Awoi was a child.
In May, Awoi, an orphan that was born deaf and HIV-Positive, will attend a culinary program in Nairobi through this continuous funding. Although its educational funding is not related to USAID, like so many other Kenyans, Awoi trusts the ARVs.
And Taylor says he shares Awoi’s story to put a face on the potential impact of USAID cuts.
« It’s a situation that is still developed here. It’s under the radar, people don’t think about it, » Taylor said.
« People need to know that there are real people without resources, due to the circumstances of their country and their birth, that, if the threats are released in the way we fear, they will mean that they begin to become ill. »
Humanitarian relief efforts in chaos
The Trump administration announced last week that it canceled about 10,000 foreign aid grants and contracts worth almost US $ 60 million, which ended 90 percent of the USAID overall work.
The purpose of the USAID is part of an unprecedented reduction from the federal government by the Government’s Department of Efficiency of Elon Musk. The sudden disappearance of the Aid Agency has launched world humanitarian relief Efforts to chaos.
Last Friday, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said he was deeply concerned about serious cuts in U.S. foreign assistance, in a sharp reproach of the measure that he said would be « especially devastating » for vulnerable people in the world.
« Passing with these cuts will make the world less healthy, less safe and less prosperous. The reduction in the role and humanitarian influence of America will have an opponent of North -American interests worldwide, » Guterres said in a statement to UN journalists.
As the decision of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to freeze the majority of foreign aid for 90 days Reverbera worldwide, Salimah Shijvi in CBC analyzes how these cuts make life even more difficult for Rohingya refugees persecuted within the Bazar de Cox, Bangladesh, the largest refugee camp in the world.
Funding for programs fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other programs has stopped.
Humanitarian aid through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, or Pepfar, to combat HIV in Kenya, was largely funded by USAID. During the last two decades, the United States government, through Pepfar, has spent more than $ 8 billion on HIV/AIDS treatment for about 1.3 million people in Kenya, according to them. the associated press.
Last month, Margaret Odera, a community health worker who lives in Nairobi, wrote An allegation to Linkedin, expressing their fears that the United States was « withdrawing from assisting countries such as mine from Arv supplies. »
« Many look at you as a main country and superpower. Saving lives do not make you poorer, » said Odera.
« We are praying for you. »
« What happens when the drug supply is over? »
At the end of January the Kenya Ministry of Health published a statement Reiterating their commitment to the maintenance of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs.
« The ministry is actively engaged in other development partners and invest in local pharmaceutical manufacturing to avoid interruptions in treatment, » said Dr. Patrick Amoth, the General Director of Health.
But without a strong contingency plan, « the abrupt end of Pepfar’s financing will have devastating consequences, » three medical microbiology teachers and infectious diseases of the University of Manitoba wrote in an article in an article in an article in an article in an article in an article Published in the conversation February 24.
The University of Manitoba was associated with the Sexual Workers’ Dissemination Program (SWOP) and a local agency in Nairobi for 45 years, wrote Assistant Professor Julie Lajoie, Professor Keith Fowke and Doctoral candidate Toby Le.
Collaboration with Swop has been funded by Pepfar since 2003.
If this financing is over, « this would mean more HIV tests, preventive treatment and antiretroviral therapy, which would increase the risk of transmission, causing an increase in cases and even a larger number of deaths in people living with HIV, » the teachers wrote.
Usaid workers who lost their job received 15 -minute intervals to clear their desks on Thursday in the middle of a massive retention of the widely successful program. The workers were greeted with the fans cheerfully at the last time.
In Nanyuki, no one really knows what will happen later and there is a lot of concern, says Taylor. It will continue to support Awoi, including « absolutely » by paying his medicines through charity if necessary, said Taylor.
But it also cares about all the other people in Kenya who may not be able to afford antiretrovirals.
« There are many children and many adults, who are like him, » Taylor said.
« What happens when the drug supply is over? »
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