SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY MARGARET KENYATTA, THE

FIRST LADY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE 16TH

ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF
AFRICAN FIRST LADIES AGAINST HIV/AIDS (OAFLA) AT THE
AFRICA UNION COMMISSION IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA ON
31ST JANUARY, 2016.
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.
It gives me great pleasure to share with you the progress, successes
and challenges we have faced, in our efforts towards achieving the
national and international health action plans for the elimination of
new HIV infections among children, and overall health for all.
This morning, we come together to take stock, refocus our
commitment and collectively seek ways to overcome the
challenges, and identify sustainable and scalable action areas.
Today, we have the opportunity to galvanise political leadership to
pay more attention to the unacceptable loss of lives of women and
children. We have both the evidence, and knowledge of the high
returns in investment in health, and the positive impact on poverty
reduction and stimulus to economic growth.
Though there has been tremendous progress in the prevention of
new infections among children in Kenya, we still face challenges.
At present, we have 13,000 new HIV infection cases every year
among children. 11,000 children living with HIV die annually due to
lack of access to antiretroviral treatments; 87,000 HIV positive
women are pregnant annually. Women remain most affected by HIV
and we have a role to play by using our networks to attract more
multi-sectoral collaborations.
We are all part of the African village, and that is why, through the
African Union, we have OAFLA. This organization focuses on
harnessing the vantage positions of First Ladies to advance issues of
Maternal and Child health including HIV.
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to share with you a few concrete
interventions Kenya has made towards the elimination of new
paediatric HIV.
As a signatory to the Global Plan for Elimination of Pediatric
HIV launched in 2011, Kenya has engaged partnerships at national
and international levels to mobilise and avail resources and

technical support for prevention of mother to child transmissions. I

believe this has been replicated across many African countries.
Kenya, last year, contributed USD 2 million to the global Fund
basket and another USD 20 million as counterpart funding for HIV
activities.
I thank H.E. the President of Kenya for his commitment to accelerate
HIV prevention and treatment by launching the global ALL
IN Campaign in 2015. The campaign calls us to action to listen,
involve and include young people in initiatives to reduce AIDSrelated deaths and new HIV infections.
Ladies and gentlemen.
As you may recall, three years ago in 2013, I committed to add
voice and action through the Beyond Zero Campaign. The
campaign focuses on maternal, neo natal and child health. It also
prioritizes HIV testing, prevention, treatment and care. Today we
have witnessed an increase in commitment for support at local and
international levels, an increase in awareness, and positive policy
level interventions.
Through a unique partnership with private sector, national and
county
governments, international organisations, individual
philanthropists, media and civil society, we have mobilized
resources which have funded the delivery of mobile clinics equipped
with medical kits to 36 out of 47 counties. The mobile clinics support
national health delivery interventions by making health services
more accessible to marginalized communities in Kenya.
Ladies and Gentlemen
On March 6th, I will run in the 3rd Edition of the First Ladys Half
Marathon in Nairobi, to which you are all invited.
I will run with women, men and children from all over Kenya, to raise
funds for more mobile clinics and to broaden the scope of
the Beyond Zero Campaign in order to honour our pledge to fight
HIV.
Finally, I will continue to add my voice to call for cervical, breast and
prostate cancer screening and more importantly, towards paediatric
cancer care. I will also continue to support innovative approaches
towards better health services and to address issues of health
financing as a means of achieving the SDGs.
I thank you for your attention.