Tanzania launches CEPA
Campaign to end Pediatric AIDS launched in Dar es Salaam, which advocates for priority to PMTCT and related services to ensure eradication of HIV infection from mother to child.
The Campaign to End Pediatric AIDS in Tanzania was launched on Thursday April 29th in Dar es Salaam by the Deputy Minister of Community Development,Gender and Children. Speaking at the occasion, the minister said that the Government is committed to increase coverage of service for PMTCT and to that effect it has committed in its strategic plan for health and PMTCT to increase the coverage to 80% by 2012.
The minster noted that preventing the infection to children will not only reduce the number of infection, but will further reduce the cost that the country will incur in future for treatment. Speaking to the occasion the CEPA matron in Tanzania; the renowned pediatrician and founder of Pediatric Association of Tanzania which is a CEPA implementing partner, Professor Esther Mwaikambo, said that the efforts were not enough and that the more had to be done to ensure that no further child is infected by HIV.
The guest of honor Dr. Lucy Nkya called for Development partner to accord priority to PMTCT and ensure that the funds required was available to ensure that Tanzania halt the spread of HIV infection among children. Stressing some important headways to be undertaken, Dr. Nkya said that adoption and implementation of new WHO guidelines will reduce infection from mother to child to below 5% which she said will be a major breakthrough in PMTCT. On the other hand, Dr. Raphael Kalinga the director of Policy and planning representing the executive chairman for Tanzania AIDS commission said that the minister responsible had ordered that no child should be born with HIV
as it was possible to prevent. Dr. Kalinga further noted that the benefits of PMTCT are seen in short time span and its economies of scale are high.
Giving testimonies, two ladies living with HIV ( Nuru and Diana) who all had children one used PMTCT and had a child not infected and another did not use the services thus got the child who is infected, Nuru who had infected son called for all mothers to use PMTCT. Diana who used OMTCT called for efforts to use her efforts and other PLHIV to educate communities on PMTCT.
Supporting the data on the magnitude of infection among pregnant mothers and children, an outspoken advocate for health, poverty and HIV and the Executive director for Human Development Trust Dr. Peter Bujari described a case of a woman infected, giving birth to an infected child but later
infected during the process of breastfeeding. He further described the control over properties by men and in the same case the woman was kicked out of home and was seeking asylum with her 2 year son who was infected. Giving the practicality of PMTCT in Tanzania, Dr. Jerome the technical director of
EGPAF said that even though their organization was a pediatric foundation, their reach to children was still about 40% of what was needed.
CEPA Tanzania team is made of Human Development Trust as national lead,Pediatric Association of Tanzania, ANNECCA, Association of Journalist Against AIDS and Tanzania AIDS Forum are further planning to meet the parliamentary committee as they discuss budget to push for budget increase
on PMTCT. The Tanzania AIDS forum is engaging over 46 NGOs from different parts of the country to discuss and share the roles fro country wide push.
PAT is further planning meetings with Ministry of health, WHO, CDC and PEPFAR for lobbying for a number of agendas.
Related media coverage:
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=9518&cat=home
http://thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/1657-minister-calls-for-single-
syrup-for-hiv-victims.html
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