Kenya gets biggest slice of funds from Bush administration’s HIV legacy
The US will give Kenya $2.7 billion to help fight HIV/Aids, under the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief. But before you go thanking Barack Obama, it was one of the bright spots of the George W Bush years. More than a million people live with the disease in the east Africa country. The money will be disbursed over five years, and doubles the funding for Kenya. Kenya now gets more aid for Aids than any other country in the world, including South Africa. As part of a deal with the US, the Kenyan government will likely boost its own direct budget support to fight the disease by a minimum of 10% each year. It’s not only the health authorities that are worried by HIV’s spread. Kenya’s finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta says the virus is impacting on the Kenyan economy by hampering productivity. But it remains to be seen whether the bickering unity government, which came into being after bloody elections in 2007, can spend the money properly. Read more: Reuters, BBC
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