THE government has launched a new HIV Testing and Counselling Campaign for adolescent girls who are highly vulnerable in seven highly-affected regions.
The campaign was launched over the weekend by the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, who underscored the need for young girls across the country to cultivate a culture of testing their health status.
The campaign, dubbed ‘Besti Jiongeze, Twende Tukapime’, will be implemented jointly by the National Aids Control Programme (NACP) with support from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief (PEPFAR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the SAUTI project.
It also aims to reach over 170,000 adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 years who are at a high risk of HIV in seven regions including Dar es Salaam, Mbeya, Iringa, Njombe, Shinyanga, Tabora and Kilimanjaro.
Speaking during the launching ceremony of the campaign, Ms Mwalimu called upon girls and young women in Shinyanga region and the six regions to take the advantage of the campaign by turning out in big numbers in order to know their health status and take appropriate steps.
“Encourage all your friends and colleagues to go for the voluntary HIV testing campaign so that you can know your health status,” she said.
She urged families and communities to educate and groom well adolescent youth who face challenges in transition to adulthood including HIV infection risk. The minister pointed out that the inaugurated health campaign is an important step in contributing government efforts to prevent new infections of HIV in vulnerable groups and young people who are at high risk.
“I urge you to continue to add speed to continue with these services effectively across the country”, she appealed. Ms Mwalimu said statistics on the state of AIDS in Tanzania for 2011/12 indicate that infection at national level is currently 5.1 per cent with women experiencing 6.2pc and 3.8pc for men aged 15-49 years being dipped by 1.9pc as from 2003/2004.
“These figures indicate that infections are greater in women compared to men of all ages and especially for young people, where infection in women aged 23-24 is more than double to 6.6pc compared to young men which is 2.8pc”, she explained.
On her part, USAID Tanzania Representative Ms Janean Davis appreciated efforts made by the government of Tanzania and other partners in bringing HIV services to key and vulnerable populations who sometimes face stigma and discrimination in accessing health services because of their age or marital status. “Adolescent girls and young women are a critical yet often underserved age cohort for HIV efforts.
Reaching people with HIV prevention services when they are young and before they have established practices that increase their risk of HIV infection is an essential step”, she said. She reiterated USAID’s commitment to working to mitigate the impact and spread of the HIV epidemic in partnership with the government of Tanzania.
Speaking on behalf of Jhpiego Tanzania’s Country Director, Sauti Project Deputy Chief of Party, Dr Albert Komba, said that Sauti-supported “Besti Jiongeze Twende Tukapime’’ campaign will be providing a highly quality integrated package of community-based biomedical, behavioural and structural interventions, which also includes family planning, sexual risk reduction counselling and screening for Tuberculosis (TB), gender based violence, alcohol and drug abuse.
“Individuals who are HIV-positive and recent survivors of gender based violence under this project will receive peer-escorted referrals to care and treatment services”, he said.
SAUTI is a five-year (2015-2020) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project implemented by Jhpiego -- an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, in partnership with EngenderHealth, Pact and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)-Mwanza.
And it works with the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and children to support the community based HIV prevention in the said 11 regions with the aim to contribute to the improved health status for all Tanzanians through a sustained reduction in new HIV infections across the country.
SAUTI it also supporting regional and district council health management teams in the planning and rolling out the district-level ‘Besti Jiongeze Twende Tukapime’ health campaign which is targeting vulnerable adolescent and young women.
