After a long period of indecision, insurance companies are gradually warming up to the possibilities of providing medical cover to people living with AIDS.

This development amounts to a paradigm shift in the health insurance sector – long associated with conservative practices that gave HIV/AIDS a wide berth citing high risks and uncertainty.

However, milestones in research, technology and treatment regimes means that people with the virus that cause AIDS are living longer, more productive lives and therefore it makes good sense to do business with them.

The Ecumenical Church Loan Fund (ECLOF) is one such company offering medical cover as well as micro finance facilities to clients who are also HIV positive.

Last year, Apollo Insurance Company became one of the first firms in Kenya to offer limited medical cover to clients with HIV/AIDS.

“When we started,” says Rose Wanjohi, the executive Director ECLOF, “at lease 95 percent of our clients were already infected and we considered shutting down our operation, but today we offer insurance cover to all – whether or not they have HIV.”

Wanjohi adds that ECLOF is always seeking to balance the affordability of their services for their clients with commercial viability.  

On average, a person living with HIV who is not on treatment will die in about seven years, but with treatment one can live for up to 20 years. 

Most of us are aware that tuberculosis is on the increase, especially in developing countries. The reason is that TB is one of the most prevalent opportunistic illnesses that occur in HIV-positive people. The treatment is long and expensive in some cases.  

As with pneumonia, TB with AIDS becomes expensive for the insurer. However, the treatment is necessary and organizations like ECLOF recognize that with control and a positive lifestyle, clients who have HIV can be supported to live productive lives.

“A concerted approach on many levels is required, for example, in availing availability of generic drugs,” adds Wanjohi, “We have agreed with several suppliers of branded drugs, that they will supply these to our patients at a special price.”

ECLOF offer a minimum of Ksh1, 700 (US $25) insurance cover per family, although this is still prohibitive for the poor in Kenya’s urban centres and rural areas.

HIV increases the burden on already over-stretched health services in developing countries and Kenya is no exception.

A research funded by DFID involving the UK's Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine recently assessed the economic burden of HIV/AIDS on medical services at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi and found that clinical care for people with HIV in Kenya is currently limited to basic management of acute HIV-related infections.

Researchers noted that the minimal access to primary disease prophylaxis or antiretroviral therapy, and little specific treatment of opportunistic infections.

Still, the increase in demand for basic care alone is likely to have a major impact on the ability of resource-poor countries to provide adequate healthcare.