ARVs shortage: 'I fear we might die, I do not have money for drugs'

At least over 50, 000 women living with HIV receive ARV prophylaxis to prevent transmission. [Mercy Kahenda, Standard]

Kenyans living with HIV will shortly be forced to buy ARVs as the impasse between the government and donor agencies continues. Many health facilities have ran out of drugs even as a consignment with Sh1.2 billion worth of HIV drugs is still held at the port of Mombasa since it was shipped this January by USAID.

The Kenyans suffering include patients like 59-year-old TJ. He has been on ARVs since he was diagnosed with HIV in 1999 when the virus was a 'death sentence'. His wife had succumbed to the disease while their five-year-old daughter had contracted it at birth.