Nairobi — More than 100,000 people infected with HIV could go without anti-retroviral drugs from next year if a recommendation to deny Kenya cash from the Global Fund is adopted.

The fund's technical division has recommended that Kenya's application for Sh20.3 billion ($270 million) be rejected because of the country's past poor performance.

Apart from concerns over financial management, other reasons for the harsh recommendations are based on the fact that the cost of malaria drugs is expected to drop by as much as 95 per cent, which would mean that the country would require much less than it had applied for.

"In such a case, we may be asked to rework our budget and apply afresh. Any delay will not affect malaria programmes, for example because we have sufficient funds to cover the next two years," said a source within the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, who cannot be named because the information has not been communicated to the government officially.

The source also said the monies were for a Round 9 application.

In the period 2002 to 2007, the country's performance with Global Funds was rated below 50 per cent -- an aspect that is thought to have heavily influenced the recommendations.

Information gleaned from the Global Fund website indicates that Kenya, as by last month, is almost always about two years behind schedule in implementing programmes.

Final decision

"When a country makes a new application to the fund, the technical division will normally review its past performance and this could have serious impact on the income," said the source.

The final decision will be known next week when the Global Fund Board of Directors meets in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It is understood Kenya is preparing to send a strong team, including Public Health minister Beth Mugo and her counterpart for Special Programmes Naomi Shaban, to Ethiopia to plead its case.