KANCO Achieves Milestone in Taming HIV Spread in Kenya

By John Kariuki

THE Kenya AIDS and NGOs Consortium is an organization of Non-Governmental Organizations with the mission to improve the Health and Well-Being of Communities through Capacity Building and Innovative Leadership.

This is achieved through four strategies; policy and advocacy; improving access to health; strengthening KANCO as an institution and developing a strong unified membership and research, learning and innovation.

Over the years KANCO has horned operations at the national, regional and global level, with advocacy partnership pushing for access to people centred and sustainable health services, towards the realization of healthy people and empowered communities.

The Times Digital held an exclusive interview with The Executive Director Professor Allan Rugi, he observed notable achievements such as reduction of HIV transmission by over 70%.

“We thank the Government for having the goodwill to fight the HIV menace which initially was an epidemic but now it was neutralised and enabled victims to afford a decent and dignified life.
However we should not just sit pretty because of the fact that new infections are affecting young people who fall under the age bracket of 15-35,” he said.

KANCO brings together more than 1,200 member organisations which are spread throughout the entire country. KANCO also works with the Government, international organizations and faith based organisations.

Prof. Allan underscored the need for the Universal Health Coverage to be reviewed.

“Over the past years, Kenya has accelerated progress toward Universal Health Coverage, both in terms of expanding coverage of quality health services and reducing financial hardship. For example, Kenya’s life expectancy increased from about 51 years in 2000 to about 66 years in 2018 while the incidence of catastrophic health spending decreased from almost 13% in 2013 to 8% in 2018.

In December 2017, the President of Kenya unveiled UHC as one of the key Big 4 Agenda of his administration. The Government of Kenya undertook various reforms and increased the allocation of resources from both national and county governments to the health sector to finance the ambitious agenda.”

Professor Allan underscored the need to maximise on the available resources for a maximum impact in terms of improving the lives of Kenyans and also involving the communities in all aspects of policy formulation.