Nairobi: The fight against HIV in Kenya has received a boost following the approval of lenacapavir, a long-acting injectable HIV prevention drug. Kenya is among the first nine African countries set to introduce lenacapavir by early January 2026, after the World Health Organisation approved the twice-yearly jab as an effective method in curbing new HIV infections.
According to Kenya News Agency, lenacapavir received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2025 and has been endorsed in the updated WHO guidelines on long-acting HIV prevention, released in July 2025. Lenacapavir is a twice-yearly injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that will complement existing PrEP options like daily pills, providing additional choices to meet varying needs. It is designed to be discrete and convenient and also helps fight stigma.
The national HIV prevalence in Kenya stands at 3.7 percent, with 1.4 million people living with HIV, and 41 percent of new infections occurring among youth under 24 years. This highlights the urgency for impactful and tailored solutions. This innovation comes amidst data from the Kenya Health Information System showing a sharp decline in PrEP initiation by 49 percent over one year.
PrEP initiation involves starting someone on medication to prevent HIV infection before exposure to the virus, usually through assessing risk factors and confirming they are HIV-negative. Policy Lead LVCT Health, Patriciah Jeckonia, highlighted during a science caf© in Nairobi that PrEP initiation declined by 49 percent from 55,876 in January-March 2024 to 28,648 in the same period in 2025.
Jeckonia noted the concern over this decline, emphasizing that the country recorded about 16,735 new infections last year, against a target of reducing new infections to less than 8,000 by 2020. She stressed the need for new technologies and solutions, particularly for adolescents and young people, especially adolescent girls and young women.
Kenya has been selected as one of the nine early adopter countries for the lenacapavir drug rollout. Jeckonia called for increased domestic resource allocation and private sector engagement to address funding cuts impacting the HIV response. She emphasized the importance of community voices in shaping the national HIV response.
Jeckonia also noted the decline in HIV testing by 38 percent, from 2,072,922 tests in January-March 2024 to 1,285,560 in the same period in 2025, with HIV positivity increasing from 1.2 percent to 2.2 percent. She highlighted the correlation between mental health and HIV response, stressing the need for supportive communities and social behavior change approaches.
Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale announced efforts to ensure lenacapavir is accessible to Kenyans by January next year. The government aims to integrate lenacapavir into national policies to reach priority populations, expanding access to sustainable HIV prevention options across the region. An implementation plan has been developed to facilitate a smooth rollout of lenacapavir.