Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa has tasked departments and directorates to come up with concrete interventions against US budget cuts to foreign aid funding for health programmes.
The CS admitted that the executive order by President Donald Trump has a huge impact on health financing and is seeking interventions to sustain programs. Addressing the East Africa region global health security summit at Pride Inn Paradise Resort in Mombasa County, Dr Barasa said the ministry experts will look into the finances, human resources, and response to diseases and how to move forward following the US decision. "As a ministry, I have tasked various state departments to map out what is the impact of the executive order in terms of finances, human resources, and diseases and have a concrete way forward in terms of interventions, which will be shared with the Cabinet and the president and have the way forward on matters of interventions," she said.
The CS asked for a more detailed report on the impact of health funding following the US decision and to share it with the rest of the country later.
The summit organised by the Ministry of Health, Jumuiya Ya Kaunti Za Pwani (JKP), and the University of Nebraska brought together health experts from seven countries in Eastern Africa.
