US commits Sh1.17trillion to combat HIV/Aids in Tanzania

Acting US Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Inmi Patterson

What you need to know:

The US Embassy in Dar es Salaam said today, May 4, that through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), it seeks to bring HIV/Aids under control by September 2019.

Dar es Salaam. The US has announced a Sh1.17 trillion commitment to combat HIV/Aids in Tanzania.

The US Embassy in Dar es Salaam said today, May 4, that through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), it seeks to bring HIV/Aids under control by September 2019.

The Acting US Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Inmi Patterson revealed this when she toured the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Dar es Salaam where she was joined by the Deputy Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Dr Faustine Ndugulile.

Later in a statement, the US Embassy said that through PEPFAR, the US has so far spent more than Sh10.26 trillion ( $4.5 billion) to stop the transmission of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania since 2004.

“I am proud to announce today that through PEPFAR, the US will spend an additional $512 million (Sh1.17 trillion) to improve HIV prevention, testing and treatment in Tanzania through September, 2019,” she said in a statement.

The Embassy alluded to the latest HIV/Aids Impact Survey released in December 2017, which showed that Tanzania had fallen behind other countries in the region in control of the disease.

“Only about half of all people with HIV in Tanzania have been tested and know that they have HIV.  Tanzania must get back on track, and this will require greater public awareness and people should be tested, adoption of new policies and proper implementation of the polices,’’ noted the Embassy statement.

“PEPFAR encourages everyone, especially men, to talk to a health worker about getting tested for HIV,’’ it added.