Dr Kelly Oluoch, chief executive of the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC).Kenya is preparing health workers to quickly and safely deliver an HIV cure once it becomes available, KMTC chief executive Dr Kelly Oluoch has said.
No such cure exists today, but the country is already preparing by moving HIV services into regular primary care instead of running them as a separate programme.
Oluoch said medical training institutions are reviewing their courses to give both new and practising health workers the new skills they need.
He said laboratory workers are particularly important because a future cure will require tests to confirm whether treatment has worked and to monitor patients afterwards.
“Laboratory professionals will be central to a future HIV cure, from confirming treatment outcomes to supporting surveillance and helping health systems understand how the intervention performs in real-world settings,” Oluoch said.
He spoke during a panel at a meeting titled "How Do We Prepare the World for an HIV Cure?" at the World Agroforestry Centre (Icraf) in Nairobi.
Scientists around the world are studying several possible ways to achieve a cure. Some approaches aim to remove HIV that remains hidden in cells even when ARVs reduce the virus in the blood to undetectable levels. Other approaches seek to help the body control the virus for a long time without the need for daily treatment.
HIV is hard to eliminate because it hides in a small reservoir of dormant immune cells that antiretroviral drugs cannot detect or clear, so it rebounds if treatment stops.
A cure still looks possible because a few people have been reported cured after stem cell transplants from donors with a rare gene mutation that blocks HIV. Researchers are now trying to reproduce that result with safer methods such as gene editing and antibodies.
Oluoch said African countries must also be able to generate their own evidence when new HIV technologies are introduced.
“We need to prepare health workers not only to use evidence, but also to generate evidence that reflects African populations, health systems, financing realities and supply environments,” he said.
He said regulation must also keep pace with scientific progress.
“Scientific innovation must be matched by regulatory preparedness. Health systems need the capacity to assess new interventions, monitor their use and respond quickly as evidence evolves,” Oluoch said.
Health workers will also need to understand how a new HIV treatment could interact with medicines used to treat other illnesses.
“Health workers will also need strong competencies in medicine safety and post-market surveillance, particularly where a future HIV cure may interact with treatments for conditions such as tuberculosis, diabetes and hypertension,” he said.
The Kenya AIDS Integration Strategic Framework 2025–2030 seeks to integrate HIV services with other health services and strengthen their delivery through primary healthcare.
This could help Kenya prepare for a future HIV cure because a new treatment would need to be delivered through health facilities, laboratories, supply systems and health workers already serving patients.
Kenya has also gained experience introducing new long-acting HIV medicines.
The country began rolling out Lenacapavir, an injectable HIV prevention medicine, in February. It is given twice a year and its introduction has required training, regulation, procurement, supply systems and patient monitoring.
Lenacapavir is used to prevent HIV infection in people who do not have the virus.
But the experience could help Kenya prepare for other new HIV technologies that may require different ways of delivering care.
Countries are also being urged to prepare while scientists continue the search for a cure.
The 2026 United Nations political declaration on HIV/AIDS calls for continued research towards an HIV cure and vaccine. The declaration says countries should “advance long-term scientific research for an HIV vaccine and a cure.”
The Icraf meeting brought together health experts, researchers, civil society representatives and officials to discuss how countries can prepare their policies, health systems, financing, regulation and communities for a possible cure.
Andy Seale of the World Health Organisation urged countries to start preparing while research continues.
He said they should build on what HIV programmes already have, such as laboratories, buying systems, regulators and community-led services.
Doreen Moraa Moracha, the Africa NGO delegate to the UNAIDS board, said lessons from past HIV programmes should guide money, manufacturing, rules and fair access. Dr Nduku Kilonzo, CEO of Yemaya Health Advisory, chaired the panel.
Instant analysis
Kenya is positioning its health system for a breakthrough that remains scientifically out of reach: an HIV cure. By integrating HIV care into primary healthcare and retraining workers, the country is laying groundwork before a cure exists. The emphasis on laboratory capacity, regulation, medicine safety and African-generated evidence also highlights a crucial challenge — ensuring future innovations are not only discovered, but safely and equitably delivered to patients.
