Mwenyekiti wa AJAAT, Simon Kivamwo
PRIVATE sector come amid media sad stories that in some part of Tanzania condoms were been used and washed ready for second and third use. In some part of Tanzania there have been media reports suggesting that because of condoms shortages, people used smooth plastic bags as substitute during sexual intercourse.
The workshop was told that the private sector’s contribution towards HIV reduction has been enormous and centers for truckers and sex workers, to freely meet and discussion their wellbeing the centers mostly of which are built by private sector.
“At every truckers resting point physical exercise centers have been built giving opportunities for drivers to undergo physical exercise as well as getting HIV and AIDS counseling and testing services” one participant who was also part to the government mission Brazil said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports has been undertaking various initiatives to enhance further HIV and AIDS infections among the most at Risk Tanzania population.
Speaking at the PTWC meeting, the ministry’s youth Officer Neema Meena said the initiatives include Voluntary Counseling and Testing, Kijana Amka, and the Life Planning skills programme for Out of School Youth. She said that as a result of the initiatives, the Ministry was able to reach 1,600 youth who got life skills and livelihood skills education;
while Voluntary Counseling and Testing services were provided to 49,879 youth out of which 1380 tested HIV positive.
However, since HIV/AIDS was a cross-cutting issue, she called for concerted efforts from
different stakeholders to put in place holistic approach to halt its prevalence. “The Ministry will continue to carry various HIV prevention initiatives in its various national
and international programmes in order to enhance an understanding of HIV/AIDS amongst youth in the country and to foster and promote behavior change and attitude
of the society”. Source: AJAAT reporter Wilaya ya Bagamoyo ni miongoni mwa wilaya
ambazo wananchi wake wameathirika kwa kiasi kikubwa kwa maambukizi ya Virusi vya UKIMWI kwa vile wengi wa wakazi wa wilaya hii wanaishi katika mazingira hatarishi.
Kiasi kikubwa cha maambukizi haya kinachangiwa na mazingira ya wilaya kupitiwa na
barabara kubwa kuu mbili. Barabara itokayo Dar es Salaam kuelekea Morogoro na ile ya Tanga.
Maambukizi haya yamesababishwa na muingiliano mkubwa wa watu katika vijiji vya Chalinze, Lugoba , Msata, na Ubena, Wilaya ya Bagamoyo imeelekeza nguvu zake katika kuhamasisha wakazi wake kujikinga na maambukizi ya Virusi vya UKIMWI.
Ni kwa sababu hiyo mpango wa jamii dhidi ya UKIMWI (MJADU) kupitia TASAF umewawezesha wanavikundi wapatao 72 kwa kuwapa mafunzo ya namna ya kujikinga na maambukizi ya Virusi vya UKIMWI na matunzo ya huduma kwa wagonjwa wanaougua
maradhi ya UKIMIWI waliopo majumbani mwao. Mafunzo haya yalijumuisha watu wasioona, walemavu na wajane. Mwalimu Sitta Steven ni mlemavu asiyeona ambaye ni
mmoja wa waliofaidika na elimu hiyo amesema kwamba TASAF imewapa heshima kubwa kwa kuwaweka pamoja watu wasioona na wale wenye kuona katika mahudhurio ya mafunzo hayo kwa kuona kuwa TASAF imewafikisha kwa sababu asasi nyingi zimewasahau wasioona na kuwafanya wao kama vile jamii isiyoishi, kwa hili imetoa pongezi kubwa serikali na kuwataka wengine waige mfano huu.
Mwalimu Sitta ametoa angalizo
kwa kuwaasa wenzake kuwa
elimu waliopata ni nzuri mno
hivyo wasiiache katika maandiko
bali wanapaswa kuitumia wao
binafsi na familia zao katika kujikinga
na UKIMWI, lakini pia
watoe kwa wenzao wanaoishi nao
ili Taifa hili liweze kunusurika na
janga hili “kwa kuwa Tanzania
bila ya UKIMWI yawezekana.”
Mpango wa mwitikio wa jamii
dhidi ya UKIMWI (MJADU)
kupitia TASAF pia umetoa fedha
kwa vikundi vingine3 vya wajane
na wagame wanaojiushughulisha
na biashara ya mama lishe na
kikundi kimoja cha yatima kwa
ajili ya kuanzisha miradi yote
hiyo imegarimu jumla ya shilingi
23,518,160.10
Chanzo: majira
MCA-T construction and engineering
companies.
“To ensure this programme is a
success, we are highly determined
to facilitate access to sexual and
reproductive health services,
including HIV counselling and
testing and linking HIV-positive
workers to services that enable
them to stay healthy and continue
working,” he said.
This workplace programmes
will target managers and labourers,
both skilled and unskilled,
who work on the construction and
infrastructure projects.
Local leaders and members
of the surrounding communities
will be the secondary target audience.
Within the communities
special attention will be given
to young women, out of school
youth and migrant labourers, who
are likely to be at a higher risk
for HIV.
Addressing participants during
the programme launch, Mwanza
Regional Administrative Secretary,
Ms Doroth Mwanyika,
commended EngenderHealth’s
efforts, through its CHAMPION
project, for its outstanding HIV/
AIDS programmes at work
places.
“We call upon other nongovernmental
organizations
(NGOs) to make deliberate efforts
on developing and thoroughly
implementing AIDS policy and
programmes that are specifically
focusing at work places,” she
added.
Mwanza launches new HIV/AIDS programme
‘PPP necessary for successful
HIV prevention’- Call
from page. 1
from page. 1
Wananchi wapata elimu ya UKIMWI
HIV and AIDS awareness programmes are needed at a sustained basis to
reduce HIV infections in many parts of Tanzania)
3
A new national HIV/AIDS strategic
plan for Uganda is due to be finalized
before the year’s end, and
gay rights activists are urging its
authors to break with tradition and, for the
first time, provide for programming for men
who have sex with men.
The current national strategic plan, which
covers the period between 2007/2008 and
2011/2012, does not mention MSM, despite
studies reporting that they are at higher risk of
contracting HIV than other adult men.
The plan lays out a framework for responding
to the epidemic, pinpointing priority areas
for programming; the next one is expected to
guide the country’s HIV programmes until
2015. “[The strategy] directs how resources
from donors and governments are utilized,”
said Kikonyogo Kivumbi, executive director
of the Health and Science Press Association
(UHSPA-Uganda), which advocates for the
rights of sexual minorities.
“It means that whoever is going to access
those resources in the delivery of public health
services, if the policy directs them [to], they
can introduce LGBTI [Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender and Intersex]-friendly services.”
The Crane Survey, a 2008/2009 study of
high-risk groups in Uganda, reported that the
HIV prevalence among MSM respondents
was 13.7 percent, more than twice the national
prevalence of about 6.4 percent.
“These people are engaging in sex. Whether
you want it or not, infections [and] HIV will
occur,” said Kivumbi.
According to Frank Mugisha, executive
director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG),
the absence of a national dialogue around safe
sex education for sexual minorities means that
many members of the MSM community do not
know how to avoid HIV transmission.
Tentative steps
A draft version of the new strategic plan
distributed to civil society organizations mentioned
the MSM community by name under an
introductory section outlining groups that have
prevalence rates above the national average,
but the strategy concluded that MSM did not
play “a big role” in the transmission of HIV in
Uganda and did not warrant a high rank among
prevention activities.
The draft strategy did recommend that more
research be done within communities of MSM
and injecting drug users to determine whether
the groups were at risk of an upsurge in new
infections. Although it stops short of actually
including MSM in HIV programming,
for Kivumbi, the draft strategy was nevertheless
a cause for celebration. “It’s the first HIV
programming to mention MSM by name… It’s
a big and overwhelming shift,” he said.
He added that his organization would continue
to advocate for explicit recommendations
for the MSM community. Had MSM been
ranked among most at-risk groups – such as
sex workers and fishing communities – they
could expect to access services including riskreduction
counselling, condom distribution and
community outreach.
However, James Kigozi, spokesman for the
Uganda AIDS Commission – which draws up
the plan – told IRIN/PlusNews that because
homosexual activity was illegal in Uganda,
programming for MSM was unlikely to make
it into the final version of the plan.
For SMUG’s Mugisha, any mention in the
strategy without specific intervention recommendations
was just a “first step”. He urged the
UAC to come up with policies based on expert
consultations and best practices in neighbouring
countries rather than just calling for more
research, which would be extraordinarily difficult
to conduct in a country that criminalizes
homosexual activity. The authors of the Crane
Survey reported that it was “severely interrupted”
by the arrests of LGBTI advocates.
Apophia Agiresaasi, executive director of
Action Group for Health, Human Rights and
HIV/AIDS (AGHA-Uganda), said one of the
lessons they learned while studying the ability
of sexual minorities to access healthcare was
that collecting data among the MSM community
is difficult.
“They will say they belong to a category
that’s more acceptable, or if they’re in sexual
relationships with both men and women, they
will identify [themselves] as heterosexuals,”
she said. “Any statistics may be less than what
is on the ground.”
Anti-gay bill
There was more good news for gay rights
activists, when the cabinet on 17 August turned
against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which
called for the execution of people repeatedly
convicted of committing homosexual acts,
among other offences, but there are still laws on
the books criminalizing homosexual activity.
“The government’s position is that the law
is unnecessary – we have adequate laws to deal
with it [homosexuality],” Adolf Mwesige,
Minister for Local Government and the ruling
party’s lawyer, said. “We are trying to persuade
parliament to drop it; if they insist on it, we
will oppose it.”
David Bahati, the architect of the controversial
bill, insisted he would go ahead with it
despite widespread opposition. He said many
of the more controversial clauses had been
removed.
“The [reworked] legislation will take care
of all concerns raised by different stakeholders,
including those concerns about HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment,” he said.
But even if the national strategy were to
call for treatment and prevention services for
MSM, there are still significant hurdles to actually
offering those interventions in a country
where homophobia is rampant. Need for health
worker sensitization
In 2010, Mugisha was among the 100 alleged
gays and lesbians whose photographs
were published in a local magazine under the
headline, “Hang Them”.
For sexual minorities attempting to access
health services, this stigma can be difficult to
overcome. The 2010 AGHA-Uganda report
found discrimination by doctors and healthcare
workers against LGBTIs was the biggest barrier
to healthcare access for that community.
“Some doctors are homophobic,” Mugisha
said. “You don’t have anything legally binding
to compel them to treat Uganda’s LGBTI
community… [current laws] justify the myth of
their cultural and religious arguments against
treating MSM and others.
“My desire would be to tell the doctor, ‘Yes,
I’m having sex with another man,’” so he could
receive appropriate care, he added..
Mugisha said he knew people who had
been misdiagnosed at health centres because
doctors were unfamiliar with sexually transmitted
infections that are more common among
MSM and the people seeking treatment were
too afraid to reveal their sexuality.
While a policy pronouncement might
not immediately change doctors’ attitudes,
Mugisha said it would give LGBTI patients
leverage to fight discrimination. But a change
in policy would need to be accompanied by
sensitization training for healthcare providers
and lessons in LGBTI-specific health needs,
which is missing.
AGHA-Uganda’s study did find some interest
among health workers in learning more
about care and treatment specifically for LGBTI.
Source: PlusNews
UGANDA: Calls for inclusion
of MSM in new HIV strategy
4
HEALTH experts
have
advised that
there is need
to increase access to palliative
care services for patients
with life-threatening
infections including HIV/
AIDS and cancer.
Palliative care is a specialised
approach that involves
providing relief from pain
and stress to patients with
life-threatening conditions.
At different interviews, they
suggested that less than 10
per cent of Tanzanians in
need of palliative care and
treatment have access to the
facilities. Most of those in
need of such care are patients
with cancers associated
with HIV/AIDS.
Dr Kheri Tungaraza of
Kinondoni district’s Sinza
hospital, urged that palliative
care should be considered
“an urgent humanitarian
need.” He argued that
scaling up the services was
critical since most patients
in need of them are in advanced
stages with limited
chances of recovery.
“Palliative care services
should be provided from
the time of diagnosis of
life-threatening illnesses,
adapting to the increasing
needs of cancer patients and
their families,” he said.
But the Ministry of
Health and Social Welfare’s
head of communication unit,
Mr Nsachris Mwamaja, said
on Monday that while Palliative
Care policy was not
explicitly included in the
National health policy, such
care was embodied in the
national health system to
patients who need it.
“Well, it is not spelt
out independently in the
national health policy, but
such care is given to patients
who need it, like those suffering
from cancer. That is
how it is integrated into the
health system here,” he said
whe contacted by the ‘Daily
News.’
Dr Tungaraza noted that
it was also important for
health experts to collect data
on cancer prevalence in the
country and adopt palliative
care models, instead of
having it implicitly in health
systems.
In a paper titled “Palliative
care in Tanzania,
Background Strength &
Challenges,” Dr Msemo Diwani,
the Head of Palliative
care at Ocean Road Cancer
Institute (ORCI), says that
palliative care to cancer
patients is still largely unaddressed,
with all funds
going to HIV/ AIDS.
He urges that Palliative
care programmes should
be incorporated into existing
health care systems.
He adds: “Health workers
should be adequately trained
in palliative care and hospitals
should have palliative
care teams.
“Palliative care in the
Country is still in its infancy
despite existing huge
demands.” He said there
should be equity in supporting
palliative care programmes
so that cancer patients’
palliative care needs
are also met.
“Donors should do a reasonable
search to ascertain
capacity of organizations
to provide palliative care
before supporting it. A lot
of funds have been given to
organizations for such care
yet they do not even know
what it is, leading to wastage
of donor’s funds,” noted
Dr Diwani. ORCI has been
practising some form of palliative
care since its inception
three decades ago.
This is because most
patients were referred to
ORCI with advanced disease
where cure was not
possible, leaving palliative
modalities as the sole option.
This included adiotherapy,
chemotherapy, counselling
and comfort. However,
the concept of holistic care,
which is what modern palliative
care stands for, was
not realised until 10 years
ago.
He noted that ORCI’s
palliative care therapy is
able to control pain in over
90 per cent of hospital patients
using simple World
Health Organisation (WHO)
analgesic ladder.
In 2006, ORCI started
palliative care outreach
programme for cancer and
HIV/AIDS patients,
thanks to Diana, Princes
of Wales’ memorial funds,
International Association
for Hospice & Palliative
Care (IAHPC) faculty initiatives
and now OSI.
Source: Daily News
Highlights of HIV/AIDS
situation in Tanzania
Mainland
The national prevalence stands
at 5.7% down from 7% in
2004
Epidemic has stabilized
around 6% among those aged
15-49 years ( Generalized
Epidemic)
Wide regional variation of HIV
prevalence between 0.9%-
15%
Drivers of the epidemic include
trnsactional sex; low condom
use; trans-generational sex and
gender inequalities.
National VCT campaign spearheaded
by the Head of State
has inceased uptake to 37%
National HIV prevention budget
is 17% of the total HIV and
AIDS budget (PER 2007)
Editorial Board
Chairman:
Adolph S. Kivamwo
Editor-in Chief:
Charles M. Kayoka
Editor
Perege Gumbo
Copy Editor:
George Nyembela
Type-setting
Irene Kimambo
Journalists
Joyce Magoti
Benedict Sichalwe
ANNOUNCEMENT
AJAAT has vast skills in
producing newsletters for
individual organizations. Those
interested can feel free to
contact us for service-Editor
Experts advise on
palliative care
5
Tanzania faces a mature,
generalized
HIV epidemic.
Among the 1.4
million people living with HIV/
Aids, 70.5 per cent are 25 to 49
years old, and 15 percent are 15-
24 years.
Other populations at high risk
for HIV infection include people
in prostitution, miners, police
officers, prisoners, people in the
transport sector, and the military.
There has been a recent increase
in HIV prevalence among
older age groups, with the HIV
prevalence rate among women
ages 30 to 34 reaching 13 per
cent. The greatest challenge facing
the health sector is inadequate
human resources to deliver quality
health services to the Tanzanian
population.
This may be the cause that
saw 59 students from thirteen regions,
expecting to graduate this
year in November with Bachelor
of Education with Guidance and
Counseling at Mount Meru University,
aim to be professional
VCT counsellors .
Their graduation ceremony
was graced by Arusha regional
medical officer, Dr Toure Salash
who was a witness when these
students took oath not to unveil
sensitive and personal information
about their patients.
The students also confessed to
protect confidentiality of clients
by not disclosing any information
from them.
This training is jointly organised
by the ministry of Health
and Social Welfare through the
National Aids Control Programme
and Mount Meru University.
In his speech, Dr Toure congratulated
the administration and
appreciated their efforts.
He mentioned that, being a
VCT councilor needs personal
determination and commitment.
He suggested that the graduands
should work with stakeholders
not forgetting the NGOs.
The trainees were asked to prepare
an action plan and work with
youth to influence positive behavioural
change in them.
It was insisted that fighting
HIV is an individuals’ responsibility.
He proposed that the trainees
should have commitment and
adherence, and ensure proper supervision
in all that they do.
Because they are trained professional
teachers, Dr Toure urged
every individual to increase the
knowledge of fighting HIV in
their respective schools.
“AIDS has no cure but it can
be prevented. The first prevention
is counseling a person on how this
disease is transmitted to make
people understand that when they
protect themselves, they will not
be infected,” he said.
He also pointed out that though
some people have already been
infected. “It is not right for us to
isolate them, on the contrary we
ought to help them know and understand
their health, so that they
can do the necessary regarding
their condition,” he noted.
Dr Toure said, “the only way
one can discern their health status
is through a checkup. All people
in our societies should be enticed
to know their health,”
He observed that some people
prefer not to know their health status
and thus, the greatest responsibility
of the graduands is to urge
them to undergo testing by using
the knowledge that they got during
their intensive training.
Dr Toure promised to advise
the ministry that this training
should be taught countrywide to
all teachers.
“It will help and teach Tanzania
as a whole,” he said adding
that HIV is a cross cutting issue
that wants all people to be soldiers
in the fight against the disease.
One of the facilitators, Mr Hosea
Naaman said the aim of the
VCT training is to contribute to
national efforts for response towards
HIV in the aspect of prevention,
care and treatment and
support through provision of client
initiated voluntary counseling
and testing services.
The graduates must make
sure their raining help the country
achieve MDGs target to end 6
communicable diseases since they
will increase of the demand of
delivery of VCT services in the
country.
“These graduates will be able
to provide both supportive and
psychological counseling to the
affected and infected clients and
patients,” he said.
The participants prepared the
knowledge and skills application
plans to guide them during implementation
of VCT services. They
will need support from their supervisors,
co-workers and healthcare
providers for the success of the
entire VCT services.
The students’ representative
showered praises to the course
trainers for their commendable
job. Top on the performance, according
to the trainees were Mr
Naaman, Ms Judith Kipuyo and
Ms Margareth Mnjema.
The trainees promised to work
hard by adhering to ethics and
code of conduct governing the
VCT services the way they have
been taught.
The students observed that being
a VCT counselor and a teacher
at the same time was not easy.
Thus, they called upon the ministry
of Health and Social Welfare to
communicate with the Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training
to see how they can utilise the
two vocations.
“The ministry should ensure
proper supervision and see the
importance of utilising VCT
counselors and see how they can
utilise Mount Meru University as
a training centre for counselors,”
he said.
The representative .
“Well, if we are not infected we
are defiantly affected. I wish you
all the best as you can help Tanzania
to become an HIV-free country
bearing in mind President Jakaya
Kikwete’s slogan,“Tanzania bila
Ukimwi inawezekana”. And yes,
indeed, we have to work to make
this dream come true.
Source: The Citizen
Arusha university joins anti-Aids war
Young generation of the age ranging between 25 and 49 years are at great risk of being infected with HIV
6
IF you are in Dar es Salaam,
start your walk
from the roundabout
at Fire Brigade. Walk
towards the East like someone
with the intention of seeing
the Indian Ocean. You will be
walking along the United Nations
Road.
On your left you will see a short
wall with adverts on it. Nearly all
of them tell you one thing: there is
in the country a killer called AIDS.
As a young destroyer, this killer is
called HIV. The messages themselves
– nearly all of them- also
tell you one thing, and that is how
to defeat the killer. The strategies
are various.
Some suggest to you the common
way professed by the darling
adage of: The best way to win a
war is to avoid it. There are of
course those which say that if
you have decided to fight, then
be well armed, because going into
the battle with inferior weapons is
being foolhardy. To avoid the war
one ought to consider its pros and
cons. In other words, is it worth?
It is not worth risking a war with
HIV. But because it has launched
an attack, fighting it is worth it. A
man who passed by me as I stood
reading the messages said he did
not think many read the writings
on the wall. “Who has the time to
do it?” he said. “People are busy
looking for something to eat.”
Tanzania Commission for
AIDS (TACAIDS) says they did
not place the messages on the wall
along the UN Road near Jangwani
Secondary School, but the messages,
in addition to the ones they
have put in such areas as University
of Dar es Salaam (UDSM),
must have been read by many.
“At the UDSM we put messages
as ‘Pass with A’s, not AIDS,”
explains Gloria Walter Mziray,
Tacaids Public Relations Officer.
Mziray says the Jangwani advertisements
were most probably
put there by some overzealous
artists. Whoever put them there
did a good job. “Think of your
family,” one says.
“Do not examine with your
eyes,” says another. One asks
sternly. “In what world do you
live? Don’t you see? Don’t you
hear?” Yet another one warns,
“Stop you greed!” To many
people in Africa still, talking of
greed where sex is concerned is
like playing the guitar to a goat.
There are people who think
that such health advertisements
are not read at all, given the common
belief that Tanzanians are
disinclined towards reading. Ms
Mziray does not agree and says
‘’many people do read them a lot
and we get feedback.’’
The feedback reflects that
many people in the country knows
about the scourge. What exactly
they do know is its presence, but
how best to change their habits,
which is where the danger lies,
is still another matter. Iringa still
leads the country in prevalence
with 15 per cent.
Manyara and Arusha come
lowest at the bottom of national
ranking with 1.5 per cent and 1.6
per cent respectively. Ms Mziray
says ways of life is the main reason
prevalence rate varies in parts
of the country and Tacaids also
varies methods of giving awareness
to the people accordingly.
However, whereas poverty lies
at the bottom of it all, tradition
some of which Ms Mziray calls
outdated and risky, contributes
considerably to the infection rate
of the scourge. Mara Region is
one of the country’s parts with the
highest infection rate.
A Tacaids Report of 2007/8
says Dar es Salaam had then a
prevalence rate of 9.3 per cent.
Another Tacaids official says that
figure has not changed much.
Mara comes close after Dar with
a prevalence rate of 7.7 per cent.
And that today, is where our
story lies. The nascent district of
Rorya in the region is one area
where marital traditions die hard.
It would be rather embarrassing
to mention names here. We may
therefore, for the benefit of our
story just call the subject Bobo
Tokle. What Bobo Tokle did was
natural.
He may have preceded that
particular deed with an unwise
and indeed stupid and selfish behaviour,
but what followed was
natural and normal. A business
man in his village of Randa in Rorya,
he travelled to Bukoba where
he met the lady he later married.
Shortly later, that is a year
or so, he began being sick quite
too often. How the illness started
brought out superstition in Bobo.
He quarrelled with his elder brother.
A son of that brother of his beat
him severely.
Not long later the skin of one of
his ears began peeling off. When I
met him, I could not resist asking
him what the matter was. “It is
my nephew who beat me,” he told
me. “But how did he do it? Your
ear is bad!” I asked. He only said
the boy beat him badly, dragging
him on the ground while the father
just watched. That must have
disfigured his ear.
The ear problem progressed
into a bigger complication that
in the end brought Bobo down
as a 30 kg-man from his normal
weight of 79 kg a year previously.
“When he died, the elder brother
inherited the beautiful “Nyar
Bukoba” whom, as he said, he
could not let go away with that
succulent body. Two years later
he too was dead. The woman was
still ‘’well’’ so to speak, at least
to their eyes. In the Tokle family
there were six sons. After the second
one died, a third one inherited
the lady from the West of Lake
Victoria – ‘’Nyar Bukoba’’. The
third brother dismissed all warnings
as mere envies of admirers
of his sister-in-law.
Not long later he too became
ill and progressively degenerated
into a walking skeleton. Soon he
too went the way of all men. That
was when the woman also began
developing worrying signs of the
disease. In fact when Bobo’s second
brother died, the woman ran
right out of that district.
Those who claimed to know
where she was said she was in
Shinyanga. God knows if she,
‘’Nyar Bukoba’’ is still alive.
The message is traditions notwithstanding,
the adverts are meant to
save the people and there is need
for every one with their eyes
skinned for them. Reading advertisements
or listening to them
over the radio of TV is no longer
leisure. It is your life or death. It is
a necessity. Moreover, that entire
cry about the scourge is not so
empty as we may think.
Source: Daily News
HIV adverts not so empty
HIV/AIDS prevention adverts are many in Dar es Salaam, in the regions as
well as districts. But do people take trouble to read them and take their messages?
7
South Africa’s high child mortality
rates have forced the government
to rethink its policy
on infant feeding and move to
discontinue the free provision of formula
milk at hospitals and clinics, as well as
promote an exclusive breastfeeding strategy
for all mothers, including those living
with HIV.
Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi
made the announcement on 23 August after a
two-day national consultation on breastfeeding
in the capital, Pretoria, after participants
unanimously recommended the changes.
South Africa is one of only 12 countries
in the world where infant mortality is rising.
It also has one of the world’s lowest levels
of exclusive breastfeeding: an estimated 8
percent, dropping to 1.5 percent for babies
between four and six months old, government
surveys have found.
Motsoaledi admitted the new infant feeding
policy had been prompted by the country’s
“unacceptable” child mortality rates.
“Our country is going through a rough patch
– one that no country would like to see itself
in. Child mortality is increasing at a very
disturbing rate,” he told delegates.
The impact of not breastfeeding has
long been recognized. Children who are
not breastfed are six times more likely to die
from diarrhoea and have a higher chance of
respiratory illnesses.
“Breastfeeding has been scientifically
shown to be far and away the single most
important intervention [to prevent] child
deaths … let’s stop talking now and do something
about it,” said Hoosen Coovadia of
the Reproductive Health and Research Unit
in Durban.
Lack of support
But the country’s health system has not
supported the practice. Mothers are often
discharged as soon as six hours after birth,
not giving time for young, inexperienced
mothers to establish breastfeeding. In addition,
counseling on infant feeding was poor,
with mothers given formula, Motsoaledi
noted.
Formula milk manufacturers and distributors
have also promoted their products
aggressively, because of the absence
of legislation to regulate the marketing of
formula milk, cautioned the UN Children’s
Fund (UNICEF) legal officer Dave Clark.
South Africa has been targeted as one of
the fastest-growing markets for formula in
the world.
According to Thulani Ntshani, a Department
of Health official, working mothers
were also not adequately supported and often
stopped breastfeeding once they returned
to work as most working environments made
it difficult to breastfeed.
In addition, South Africa’s high teenage
pregnancy rate meant teenage mothers often
left their babies with their mothers and relied
on formula feeding.
HIV “confusion”
But the biggest barrier to breastfeeding
has been the “confusion” surrounding infant
feeding and the risk of HIV transmission.
The dilemma has been to balance the risk of
infants acquiring HIV through breastfeeding
against the risk of death from causes
other than HIV, in particular malnutrition
and serious illnesses such as diarrhoea and
pneumonia.
Health officials now recognize, however,
that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Recent
studies have shown that giving antiretroviral
drugs (ARVs) to either the HIVpositive
mother or HIV-exposed infant can
significantly reduce the risk of transmitting
HIV through breastfeeding.
In December 2009, the UN World Health
Organization (WHO) issued guidelines recommending
that infants born to HIV-positive
women be exclusively breastfed for the first
six months, but South Africa’s programme
to prevent mother to child HIV transmission
has continued to provide free formula to
HIV-positive mothers.
A broad study in South Africa found that
about 62 percent of HIV-positive women
were choosing formula even in rural areas,
where there was an inadequate supply of
clean drinking water. The study found that
many of the women were mixed-feeding –
giving their babies formula and solids such
as porridge – from as early as three weeks.
Research has shown that babies born to
HIV-positive women who are fed solids as
well as formula or their mother’s milk are
almost 11 times more likely to contract HIV
than those who are exclusively breastfed.
According to Nigel Rollins from WHO’s
child and adolescent health unit, providing
ARVs is also more cost-effective, as
the provision of formula is four times more
expensive than using ARVs.
Rollins cautioned that the delays in
implementing the new guidelines on infant
feeding were “denying HIV-positive
mums and their infants their best chance of
an HIV-free survival since the beginning of
the epidemic”.
Source: PlusNews
SOUTH AFRICA:
Policy turnaround
on breastfeeding
Breastfeeding has long been proved to be the best compared to formula feeding method
8
Foundation trains 210 Police
HIV/AIDS peer education
These HIV/AIDS peer educators are essential components in the efforts to reduce HIV infection in the country
OVER 210 Police Officers
from different
region in the country
have been equipped
with HIV/AIDS knowledge during
a training organized by Pharmaccess
Foundation.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam
recently, the foundation’s programme
director for Tanzania
Geert Haverkamp, said the five- day
training was conducted at the Dar
es Salaam Policy Academy along
Kilwa road.
Explaining, he said the police officers
would be used as peer educators
at their workplaces in their respective
regions. He said the officers
were also awarded certificates by the
Minister for Home Affairs, Shamsi
Vuai Nahodha.
Haverkamp said the heath training,
which was, funded by the United
State Agency for Development
(USAID), would be continuously
held in different region in the Mainland
and Zanzibar.
He said that apart from the HIV/
AIDS training, the foundation also
participates in the construction of
health centres at army camps across
the country.
He said the health centres provide
services to army officers, their
families and ordinary people from
surrounding villages.
“Those who come for voluntary
testing and are discovered to be infected
with the virus are registered
to get life- prolonging (ARVs),” he
said
According to him, they also engage
in renovation of hospitals and
provision of medical equipment.
The foundation, which was
established in 2006, implements
workplace programmes in hospitals,
health centres and dispensaries,
mainly for the police, prisons, immigration
and the Tanzania People’s
Defence Forces (TPDF).
Source: The Guardian