Kenya Outlines Plan to Protect Gains in Children's HIV Care at UN General Assembly

Kenya's national HIV chief has told a global panel that the country is protecting more children from HIV, but that gaps remain and must be closed.

Dr. Andrew Mulwa, head of the National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP) in Kenya's Ministry of Health, joined a high-level panel on children's HIV on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the yearly gathering of the world's governments, the ministry said in a post on X on Monday, September 21,2026.

It said he pointed to progress in stopping HIV passing from mothers to their babies, in testing babies early, and in getting more children and teenagers onto treatment that keeps the virus at very low levels in their bodies.

The ministry said Dr. Mulwa also set out Kenya's plan to make HIV care part of the country's ordinary health services.

HIV services are to be folded fully into primary healthcare (the clinics closest to communities), into programmes for mothers and children, and into Universal Health Coverage, the government's plan to give people access to health care without financial hardship.

In practice, that means a child's HIV care would run through the same services families already use for other health needs.

Kenya says it will keep the specialised expertise and community partnerships that have driven its progress so far.

The plan comes as the money behind health programmes around the world is changing.

The ministry said Kenya's priority is to protect what has been achieved, close the gap in children's HIV care, take stronger ownership of its own response and build systems that last, all toward ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Source: X/Ministry of Health, Kenya:Monday 21,September 2026.