NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)-Two-year-old Evans was brought to Nyabani Children’s Home in Nairobi, Kenya a year ago, suffering from HIV and tuberculosis. Due to no family to take care of them, Evans was sent to an orphanage by a health center when he stopped responding to medical treatment.
Nyumbani children’s home is why Evans is still alive. But political decisions removed thousands of miles (kilometers), maybe they can end their small life. NYUMBANI provides her and about 100 other children antiretroviral drugs, which they are receiving through the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) through the Kenyan government.
US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order freeze the funding of USAID means that Nyamani’s life -saving antiretroviral drugs, which prevent the HIV virus from copying in the body, may soon end.
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Trump’s order wants to review almost all American foreign aid for 90 days and its administration has gone to shut down USAID. Effects have started installing it, thousands of people have lost their jobs globally and human programs have been disrupted worldwide.
Nyumbani for children in children’s home, this is a life and death condition.
As he plays with other preschool, Evans is oblivious to his uncertain future, despite worrying on his careful faces.
Small tombs at one end of the orphanage compound are a foggy reminder that looks for children without USAID. It is a landscape sister Tres Palakudi – who has been taking care of children here for 28 years – is well familiar with working in the orphanage before helping USAID.
“When we started taking care of him, he did not think that he had life,” he said. “One after the other, they died. It was very painful, and I do not want to see it again. ,
When Nyumbani, which means “home” in Swahili, was introduced by Christian missionaries in 1992, antiretroviral drug was not introduced. Subsequently, it operates as a rescue center for orphans and abandoned children, which provides large -scale subscribing care to children living with HIV.
Establishment of the 2003 Emergency Plan of the US President for AIDS Relief, or Peppar, provided new hope for children living with HIV around the continent, including orphans in Nymbani. Pepfar’s human assistance to combat HIV in Kenya was largely funded by USAID.
“USAID started bringing the ARVs free of charge,” said Palakudi. “We put all our children on ARV and their life changed. They became healthy and were able to go to school and live like other children. ,
In the last two decades, the US government has spent more than $ 8 billion on HIV/AIDS treatment for 1.3 million people in Kenya, through Peppar.
Usaid and Pepfar have been important for the operation of Nyumbani, donating over $ 16 million to the house between 1999 and 2023. This has enabled the house to reach 50,000 children through the rescue center, as well as its two outreach programs took Toto and Nyumbani village. Help included direct money for the house, which was used to run two outreach programs.
Direct funds from USAID were discontinued in 2023, the same time came under investigation on allegations of sexual abuse of children by orphans volunteers and staff members.
According to a report by the Washington Post, six former residents claimed that administrators at home covered allegations of sexual abuse. The house disputed the claims of a cover up, stating that all the allegations were controlled according to the protocol, including reporting to local authorities and providing consultation to the affected residents.
Executive Director Judith Vamboi said that the investigation by the Kenai police was an indoors. The dissection of the funds was not related to the investigation and the USAID for assistance through the government was in line with the change in the USAID policy instead of the organizations.
The policy change impressed all organizations to get funding. Instead of giving direct money to non-governmental organizations, funding will be broadcast through government programs that meet similar needs. As a result, Nyumbani reduced its outreach programs and referred to the beneficiaries to government institutions.
With the dissection of direct funding from the USAID, two outreach programs under Nyabani were reduced and children were sent to other centers in the program. However, Nyumbani is still dependent on the USAID to rely on the USAID, which supplies the Pepfar HIV treatment drugs for free.
“The future is uncertain,” Vamboy said. “The Kenai government announced that they have only ARV stock for the last six months.”
According to AMFAR data, the foundation for AIDS research, about 1.3 million people are on HIV/AIDS treatment in Kenya, and 1,602 orphans in Kenya are dependent on orphans and weak children Pepfar. AMFAR has warned that President Trump’s freeze on foreign aid can eliminate his reach for important medical care.
One such child is kindness, which has been in the care of Nyabani for the last 12 years. ARV saved his life. “I had a very weak immune system,” he said. “This caused me to contract tuberculosis and skin diseases like many serious diseases.”
Merce was placed on HIV treatment, which gives her a lifeline, but the recent news on the freeze order has scared her for her life.
“I am very afraid that previous diseases were experienced when I was young then I will start again. And now that I have finished high school and I am ready to join college, I am afraid that it will ruin everything, ”he said.
On average, children’s home requires $ 1,139 per child per year for HIV treatment. In addition to antiretrovirals, the house requires reagents to enable regular testing of viral loads in children, as well as medications for the treatment of opportunistic diseases, which are common in HIV patients.
Vamboi said whether Peppar should be permanently closed, the cost of ARV may go up and be ineffective, which means children living with HIV will die.
“It is a life -saving situation and we can sit and not wait and negotiate human life. So for us, it is about human life, life that we need to save. Some need to be done immediately, “he said.
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