'Aids cripples Kenyan economy'

2005-04-12 22:54

Nairobi - The spread of HIV/Aids is crippling Kenya's economy and unless checked, it will reduce the country's economic growth by 10% in five years, foreign donors were told at a meeting that ended on Tuesday.

President Mwai Kibaki's government said on Monday: "Since the emergence of HIV/Aids in 1984 in Kenya, the scourge has had a devastating effect on the Kenyan economy."

It said in a report, in addition to more than 1.5 million deaths attributed to the disease, which had left more than one million children orphaned, the long-term impact on Kenya's work force had been severe.

It said: "As a result of the decline in productivity and income levels, economic growth and development is negatively affected."

'Govt cuts HIV/Aids rate'

The report said: "It is estimated that HIV/Aids with reduce per capita income by 14% and economic growth by 10% by 2010 if the current high HIV prevalence is not checked."

In the past, the government had said it had cut the HIV/Aids rate from 14% of its 32 million population in 2000 to seven percent this year.

That claim had drawn some scepticism, but Nairobi had stuck by the figures and told donors and international lenders that it was boosting spending on the fight against HIV/Aids to further reduce the level and asked for assistance.

Earlier this month, a leading business consulting firm said the vast majority of Kenyan firms were ignoring workplace problems caused by Aids, which kills more than 500 people a day in the country.

The government was facing tough question from donors at the conference, which was being held amid mounting foreign and domestic criticism of the Kibaki administration's failure to rein in graft.

- SAPA