Dozens of residents of Kenya's second largest city demonstrated against the sale of life-saving antiretroviral HIV/AIDS medications at what is supposed to be a free clinic. The protesters "forced their way into" the Provisional Coast Clinic in Mombassa.
"They claim that most public hospitals are now instructing persons living with hiv to buy some of the arv medication due to the cancellation of funding from the global fund and other international donors," reports KTV.
Two weeks ago, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria made the surprise announcement that it would cancel its Round 11 funding. The fund is the world's largest multilateral donor to the HIV/AIDS response in the developing world.
Around 1.5 million Kenyans are estimated to be HIV positive. That is about 6.3 percent of the adult population. The rate is about mid-range for sub-Saharan Africa but the sheer numbers of infected Kenyans mean that only South Africa and Nigeria have more HIV-positive citizens on the continent, according to AVERT.
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