AIDS activists work to influence Kenyan presidential candidates' positions on care, treatment

"A small team of HIV/AIDS activists is trailing Kenyan presidential candidates as they crisscross the country, pressing them to increase their commitment to the care and treatment of people living with HIV," PlusNews reports. "The 17 activists, who come from a range of civil society organizations, are calling on each of the eight presidential candidates to sign a manifesto guaranteeing a scale-up of HIV-testing, the elimination of mother-to-child transmission, and accelerated rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART)," and they "are saying they can help deliver votes from many of the more than one million Kenyans living with HIV to the candidates most willing to address their concerns," according to the news service. "Kenya faces a funding gap for its HIV programs estimated at $1.67 billion. And although the country has steadily increased the number of people on ART, more than 100,000 HIV-positive Kenyans who need the drugs have no access to them," PlusNews writes, adding, "Yet the presidential candidates have largely been silent on the issue" (2/25).