The government has announced plans to restructure the national budget to fund programs affected after the United States withdrew foreign aid. 

Speaking on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Principal Secretary for the State Department of Medical Services Harry Kimtai acknowledged that the state was   taking count of measures to undertake to salvage the situation. 

Kimtai also mentioned that the move is a wake up call for the country to prioritize the healthcare sector during budgeting. 

He also assured Kenyans that their teams were already working on the impact to come up with an assessment of how much should be invested in the healthcare sector.

 

“As a government we are taking stock of what we need to do because that calls for us to reallocate some of the funds to the programs that are very crucial and were being supported by the US government. 

“Our teams are already working on the impact of that order to our healthcare system and we will be able to come up with an assessment of how much we need to invest in our healthcare system in our supplementary and subsequent budget coming. It is a notice to us to start looking at our budget and funding this crucial sectors,” he said. 

Kimtai, however, expressed gratitude to the United States for the foreign aid as it has helped sustain the country’s healthcare sector. 

US freezes foreign aid

US President Donald Trump ordered a three-month pause on almost all foreign aid pending a review to access what fits in with “America First” policy. 

This order followed immediately after he was sworn into office. 

His executive order pauses new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds for 90 days while they are reviewed.