Tanzania, US mark 15 years of partnership in fighting HIV/Aids

Dar es Salaam. The governments of Tanzania and the United States on Wednesday, May 30 celebrated 15 years of partnership in combating HIV/Aids through the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar).
Addressing participants during the ceremony at Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre in the city, the US acting ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Inmi Patterson, revealed that the programme recently passed an important milestone and now provides lifesaving treatment to more than one million Tanzanians living with HIV.
"During this campaign, we will work with you all and with people living with HIV across the country. I encourage Tanzanians to get tested and learn their health status," she said.
For her part, Health minister Ummy Mwalimu said that through the US-funded programme, Aids related deaths in the country decreased by 70 per cent, from 110,000 in 2003 to 33,000 in 2016.
She further revealed that the government had received at least Sh10 trillion from the US government in combating the disease through Pepfar.
"The government has signed an agreement with the US government for funding amounting to Sh1 trillion for the year 2018 in combating HIV," she said.
The US government currently provides more than 80 percent of all funding for HIV programmes in Tanzania.
Between 1990 and 2003, the year Pepfar began, at least 871,000 Tanzanians died of Aids related causes.
At the same occasion, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa stated that the government had allocated at least Sh5 billion to combat to combat HIV/Aids in the country.
"Let me take this opportunity to thank the US government for its continued support in combating HIV/Aids," he said.
He further called on relevant government authorities and stakeholders to enhance interventions to ensure sustainable HIV epidemic control.