The Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal (left hand side), lifting a lighting
THE Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal has called on parliamentarians to support the government move to create the National AIDS Fund by passing it when the Bill will come before the House for discussion and approval.
The Vice-President made the request when officiating the 10th anniversary of the Tanzania Parliamentarian AIDS Coalition (TAPAC) in Dodoma. He said that formation of the Fund was critical, especially at the time when external resources to fight HIV infection reduction
have continued to dwindle following the on-going financial crisis in developed countries.
Dr. Bilal said that the formation and passing of the fund by the
National Assemble would help to bridge the gap that Tanzania face in financing HIV infections reduction activities.
‘I believe you parliamentarians will support the government move to fight HIV by passing the National AIDS Fund Bill’ He said. He said, establishment of the fund has come when the govgovernment feared that its current 90 percent dependence on HIV/AIDS external donors was no longer sustainable.
He said the reliable way to reduce dependence was establishment of the fund and increase government allocation to HIV/AIDS activities.
Dr Bilal said, since the first case of HIV was disgonized in Tanzania in 1980s, Tanzania has managed to reduce HIV prevelance from 13 percent to the current 5.7 percent, the achievement which needs to be scaled-up.
The UNAIDS director to Tanzania Luck Barriere said as the curent global financial position stands, Tanzania needs to create an enabling environment to finance HIV, adding that parlimentarians’
engagement was essential.
He said since 90 percent of HIV interventions came from
external resources, it was unrealistic that such funding could be
sustainable. ‘Innovation solution must ne developed to respond to the current financial challenges that Tanzania and other developing countries face’ He said. He said, the solution have to be sustainable, includes increase
of HIV budgetary allocation as well as designing new resource
mobilization mechanisms. The theme of the TAPAC’s 10th anniversary, whose members are Parliamentarians of the Tanzania National Assemble was ‘Ten years of TAPAC, Present and Future : reseource mobilization for sustainable HIV/AIDS programmes’. Source: AIDS WEEK, Dodoma.