Kenya
Kenya is sharpening its focus on HIV prevention for pregnant and breastfeeding women, including long-acting injectable PrEP within maternal and child health services.
Background
Kenya has made significant progress in eliminating vertical transmission of HIV. Most pregnant women living with HIV are on maternal ART, and infants are linked to postnatal prophylaxis at high rates. Yet gaps remain — early infant diagnosis coverage declined through 2025, underscoring the need to strengthen the postnatal cascade and primary HIV prevention among pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Since the launch of the national oral PrEP program in 2017, PrEP services have expanded to more than 2,300 health facilities across all 47 counties, with over 650,000 individuals initiated on PrEP. In 2025 alone, 26,058 pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBFW) received oral PrEP services.
The country continues to strengthen integration of HIV prevention within maternal and child health (MNCH) platforms, leveraging antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care (PNC), immunization, community systems, and digital platforms to improve access, retention, adherence, and continuity of prevention services for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
As one of the 12 Global Alliance countries committed to ending AIDS in children by 2030, Kenya prioritizes vertical transmission prevention within the Kenya National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (KNASP III), with national coordination led by NASCOP and the Division of Reproductive Health.
| Kenya’s VTP cascade at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Women attending ANC | 1,439,836 (79%) |
| Knew their HIV status at ANC | 1,410,746 (98%) |
| Number identified as HIV-positive | 42,319 (3%) |
| Pregnant women on ART | 38, 978 (93%) |
| New HIV infections among children (2024) | 4,300 |
| Infants receiving postnatal prophylaxis | 41,523 |
| Early infant diagnosis coverage (Q4 2025) | 62% |
In 2025, Kenya’s cascade performed strongly during pregnancy — nearly all women attending antenatal care knew their HIV status, and most pregnant women living with HIV were started on maternal ART. After birth, the picture shifts. Early infant diagnosis coverage declined sharply through the year, falling from 75% in Q1 to 62% by Q4, leaving a growing share of HIV-exposed infants without timely testing within two months of birth. Closing this postnatal gap — alongside preventing new maternal infections — is central to Kenya’s vertical transmission elimination agenda.
Prevention of New Incident Infections Among HIV-Negative Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women
| Choice-based prevention options in Kenya | ||
|---|---|---|
| Oral PrEP | CAB-LA | Lenacapavir (LEN) |
| Daily pill | Injection every 2 months | Injection every 6 months |
To prevent these new maternal infections, Kenya is implementing a choice-based prevention approach that includes oral PrEP, CAB-LA, and lenacapavir (LEN), alongside strengthened HIV retesting, risk-informed counseling, and longitudinal mother–baby pair tracking systems. Prevention services are integrated across ANC, maternity, PNC, child welfare, immunization, and community platforms to ensure women remain protected throughout pregnancy and breastfeeding.Â
Kenya began the phased rollout of LEN in February 2026, targeting high-HIV-burden counties and facilities with electronic medical record systems. By March 2026, LEN services had been integrated into 35 maternal and child health clinics, with 68 pregnant and 96 breastfeeding women initiated on LEN.
HIVE Engagement
Kenya joined the HIVE in August 2024 following an ICAP–HIVE technical team baseline visit, which included onboarding meetings with the Ministry of Health and implementing partners. In December of the same year, Kenya conducted its first baseline VTP capability maturity assessment (CMM). This assessment identified key strengths in the VTP program, such as existing enabling policies for HIV testing for pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBFW), linkage to ART, and robust systems for training and measuring the impact of VTP. The CMM also highlighted areas for improvement, particularly in providing PrEP for pregnant and breastfeeding women, longitudinal monitoring of early infant diagnosis services, and tracking postnatal prophylaxis for infants perinatally exposed to HIV. Since then, the country has been actively engaged in HIVE network activities through webinars and technical assistance. Â
Overview of Kenya’s 2024 VTP self-assessment results
In 2026, Kenya’s engagement focuses on advancing HIV prevention and vertical transmission elimination for pregnant and breastfeeding women through:
- Communities of Practice. Through the HIVE PrEP CoP, Kenya shares experiences and best practices for integrating long-acting PrEP into MCH services and learns from peer countries. Through the HIVE Monitoring and Evaluation CoP, Kenya helps strengthen PrEP monitoring systems, data use, and longitudinal tracking for HIV-negative PBFW.
- Webinars and virtual learning sessions on HIV prevention, integrated service delivery, and community approaches for PBFW — with Kenya supporting agenda development, technical framing, speaker and moderator identification, and documentation of follow-up actions.
- Country-to-country learning exchanges and technical assistance for long-acting PrEP implementation