Kenya plans to include antiretrovirals (ARVs), HIV test kits and prevention supplies in the government's mainstream procurement system, marking a major policy shift intended to reduce the country's long-standing dependence on external donors for essential HIV supplies.
The Kenya Aids Integration Strategic Framework 2025-30, by the National Syndemic Diseases Control Council (NSDCC), aims to integrate 100 percent of HIV commodities into the Kenya Essential Medicines List (KEML) and county procurement plans by 2030.
To manage the transition, the framework proposes a phased integration approach, whereby 20 percent of HIV commodities will be incorporated into KEML and county procurement plans in the first year, increasing to 40 percent, 60 percent and 80 percent in subsequent years, with full integration expected by 2030.
“Mainstream commodities for HIV and related diseases into the Kenya Essential Medicines List and county essential lists and include them in the annual budgeting and procurement cycles of the general health system managed by Kemsa and county governments to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential HIV and related disease commodities,” said NSDCC in the framework.
Currently, more than 80 percent of these commodities are financed by donor support organisations such as the Global Fund.
Antiretrovirals, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), condoms, viral load testing reagents, and other such supplies are procured, forecast, and distributed through systems funded by donors that largely operate outside of routine government procurement structures.
Once listed, HIV commodities will be eligible for government budgeting, national quantification and pooled procurement through Kemsa in the same way as vaccines and other essential health products.
The urgency of the transition was highlighted last year when a United States stop-work order disrupted several Pepfar-supported programmes across Kenyan counties, exposing vulnerabilities within donor-dependent supply chains.
According to the framework's national quantification estimates, Kenya's HIV commodity requirements between 2025 and 2030 are projected to exceed Sh150 billion.
The strategy also requires counties to maintain a buffer stock of at least three months' worth of critical HIV commodities and calls for HIV forecasting and quantification to be incorporated into the Ministry of Health's broader commodity planning systems.
Beyond procurement reform, the framework seeks to boost local production of HIV-related commodities.
Kenya aims to manufacture at least 50 percent of its HIV commodities locally by 2030, through public–private partnerships, investment incentives, and industrial policy measures designed to reduce dependence on imported supplies.
The procurement reforms are part of a wider plan to increase the amount of domestic funding for the HIV response. Currently, Kenya finances less than 40 percent of its HIV programme from domestic resources.
“Under the KAISF, the country aims to achieve full domestic financing of the HIV response by 2030. This will require both the national and county governments to gradually take on the costs that donors have covered for decades,” the framework stated.
