Patients suffering from the HIV virus have penned a heartfelt letter to President Uhuru Kenyatta on a full-page Daily Nation advert valued at over Ksh580,000.
In the ad titled Open Letter to the President published in the Thursday, November 11, edition of the newspaper, the patients appealed to the Head of State to intervene and solve the severe shortage of Antiretroviral (ARV) medication.
The team, further disclosed that the lives of over 1.3 million people were at risk with the most affected category being children.
They also noted that their numerous letters to the Ministry of Health Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe, and his team went unanswered while the patients continued to suffer.
"This is an urgent appeal that you take action and resolve commodity and supplies shortages plaguing the HIV response in the country. As the matter stands now, over 1.3 million adults and children living with HIV risk losing their lives.
"Mr President, Kenya faced an erratic supply of ARVs and acute stock-outs of laboratory supplies since February 2021. We have reached out to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Health on this matter and the head of the National AIDS and STI Control Programme. Our correspondences to them remain unanswered," read the letter in part.
"The situation for children is worse. The country has run out of pediatric diagnostic and viral load test kits and reagents. Children are being turned away without tests, resulting in inexcusable and dangerous delays in initiating HIV positive children into life-saving treatment," continued the statement.
They further argued that the shortage has hit Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) centers, where some members of the public are being turned away.
They also noted that the general supply of medicine has shrunk immensely with those who received three months worth of medication getting only two weeks' supply.
"Kenyans have become aware of the importance of knowing their HIV status but at the moment, people visiting health facilities cannot be tested due to lack of testing kits and laboratory reagents.
"Some PLHIV (People Living with HIV) are being issued with ARVs well past their expiration dates and in some instances, medicines have been dispensed in unlabeled plastic bags," added the statement.
The letter comes a day after the Ministry of Health addressed the shortage of Antiretroviral (ARVs) and Laboratory Reagents Kenya.
In a statement, the ministry further noted that there was “a temporary disruption in the commodity supply chain that affected the hitherto seamless distribution of ARVs and Early infant diagnosis reagents for people living with HIV."
The ministry has been keen, however, to reassure Kenyans that despite the reduced supply there is enough ARVs for all who need them.
The Ministry also disclosed that out of 1.5 million People Living with HIV, 1.2 million are currently on long-term lifesaving antiretroviral medication (ARVs).
