HIV drugs run short in Kenya as people say lives at risk
Tom Odula
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Protesters hold empty containers of anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines during a demonstration over shortages of ARVs, organized by people living with HIV or AIDS, sex-workers, members of the LGBT community, and their supporters, in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, Thursday, April 22, 2021. Kenyans living with HIV say their lives are in danger due to a shortage of anti-retroviral drugs donated by the United States amid a dispute between the U.S. aid agency and the Kenyan government. (AP Photo)
1 of 4 Protesters hold empty containers of anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines during a demonstration over shortages of ARVs, organized by people living with HIV or AIDS, sex-workers, members of the LGBT community, and their supporters, in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, Thursday, April 22, 2021. Kenyans living with HIV say their lives are in danger due to a shortage of anti-retroviral drugs donated by the United States amid a dispute between the U.S. aid agency and the Kenyan government. (AP Photo)
2 of 4 Protesters hold placards during a demonstration over shortages of anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines, organized by people living with HIV or AIDS, sex-workers, members of the LGBT community, and their supporters, in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya Thursday, April 22, 2021. Kenyans living with HIV say their lives are in danger due to a shortage of anti-retroviral drugs donated by the United States amid a dispute between the U.S. aid agency and the Kenyan go
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Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has dismissed the entire board of directors of the country’s medical supplies agency that has been hit by a series of scandals.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority’s (Kemsa) latest scandal involved supplying 24,000 doses of HIV drugs that had been phased out.
Kenya stopped using Nevirapine in 2019 after patients suffered serious side effects.
The agency is also part of the reason why more than 200,000 doses of anti-retroviral drugs are stuck in a warehouse in the coastal city of Mombasa, four months after being donated by the US.
Kenya’s health minister, Mutahi Kagwe, told the Senate’s health committee earlier this week that USAID had released the drug consignment that had been stuck in port. Patients are expected to receive them during the week.