Kenya Communities and Civil Society statement 

13 February 2025

Nairobi, Kenya

Reverse  ‘Stop-Work Order’: Prioritize Quality Healthcare 

As civil society and communities working in Kenya’s health sector, we deeply appreciate the American people for a strong and lasting partnership that has advanced healthcare, trade, education, and development.U.S. support has strengthened Kenya’s healthcare system, expanded access to treatment, prolonged lives, and improved health outcomes across the country.

We are therefore gravely concerned about the 90-day suspension of U.S. foreign aid, initiated by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025. This is a move that is already hurting the health care systems and will reverse all the gains made over the decades.

Kenya has been a major partner of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and a beneficiary of the USAID grant that has been supporting HIV and tuberculosis (TB) response. The USAID ‘Stop-Work Order’ has thrown the country into disarray leading to significant disruptions across various sectors including health programs, particularly HIV, TB, and malaria. 

The suspension has resulted in the closure of over 150 clinics, adversely affecting more than 72,000 patients who rely on antiretroviral therapy. Drop-in centers providing comprehensive health and social services have been shut down, along with HIV prevention services for adolescent girls and young women. 

Programs targeting TB have also been severely impacted including the procurement and distribution of essential TB commodities, interrupting diagnosis,  jeopardizing treatment and prevention efforts. This disruption threatens to reverse the progress made in controlling these diseases in Kenya.

Additionally, approximately 35,000 healthcare workers, including peer educators, outreach workers, doctors, nurses, and community health workers, have been placed on unpaid leave, leaving no one to provide crucial health care services and exposing millions of Kenyans to new infections and possible deaths.

Such an abrupt decision to halt funding not only undermines progress made so far, but also betrays trust that has been built over several decades. 

We have seen news reports from our leaders and the Ministry of Health downplaying the impact that this suspension will have on the health sector. We want the country to know that we are staring at a national crisis of unimaginable proportions if urgent action is not taken.

Today we make our urgent appeal as follows:

1. We urge the U.S. Government to reverse the ‘Stop-Work Order’, and to adhere to basic global health governance principles, which build on cooperation, equality, and inclusivity. 
2. We strongly urge National and County governments in Kenya to step up and treat the current crisis as an emergency. Proactive urgent action should be taken  to respond and mitigate the impact of the suspension. The country should not wait for lives to be lost before responding. We call for an urgent mitigation plan to be developed in consultation with stakeholders, and for urgent actions to be taken including through ambitious budget allocations through a supplementary budget for the Financial Year 2024/2025 and increased budget allocation in the Financial Year 2025 /2026 budget allocations.
3. We call on the Government to conduct rapid response initiatives to ensure all the missed health services and appointments have been provided to avert the possible foreseeable impact of the Stop work order. This should be conducted in a transparent manner and information proactively shared with the public on measures being taken to mitigate the impact.
4. We call upon National and County governments in Kenya to operationalise existing frameworks and mechanisms for transition and long term sustainability. 
5. We ask the Government to institute solid plans to ensure health is a priority in all levels of government with adequate and sustainable resource allocation.
6. We urge the Government to ensure there is adequate infrastructure for pandemic preparedness to handle the impact of such sudden disruptions in health service delivery.

Kenya Communities and Civil Society Organizations

1. AHF
2. AVAC
3. Health GAP
4. HENNET
5. INERELA+ Kenya 
6. ISHTAR
7. KELIN
8. KETAM
9. KP POPULATION 
10. NEPHAK
11. Stop TB Partnership
12. STOPAIDS
13. UNAIDS
14. WACI Health
15. WOFAK
16. Y+ Kenya