Increased Funding and Innovative Strategies for Delivering Care Have Improved the Health of Thousands of Tanzanians, U.S. Delegation Finds
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt and the Honorable David Mwakyusa, M.P., Minister of Health of the United Republic of Tanzania, open a new HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Center, funded by President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, at Mwananyamla Hospital in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam.
The capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, was the third stop last week by senior U.S. officials during their 10-day trip to Africa, and the delegation was able to see first-hand the tangible results of a rapid scale-up of health interventions made possible by funding from the U.S. government and other sources.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Honorable Michael O. Leavitt; the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, the Honorable Mark Dybul, M.D.; the U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator, RADM Tim Ziemer (USN, ret.); the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, the Honorable Michael L. Retzer; the Assistant Administrator for Global Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Honorable Kent Hill, Ph.D.; Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., the Director of the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and other members of delegation began their visit with a meeting on Friday morning with the Minister of Health and Social Welfare of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Honorable David Mwakyusa, M.P. The conversation revolved around the partnership between the United States and Tanzanian officials in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria, and other programs to protect the health of the Tanzanian people.
The U.S. government will have provided over $212 million in health-related aid to the people of Tanzania in Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, $87.5 million through HHS, and most of it focused on combating HIV/AIDS and malaria. Secretary Leavitt praised Minister Mwakyusa for his support for President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and Malaria Initiative (PMI), and also for several of important health initiatives launched by Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete himself.
One of the highlights of the trip was the inauguration of the Mwananyamala Hospital Care and Treatment Center in Dar es Salaam, where Secretary Leavitt and Minister Mwakyusa participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the clinic. Shortly thereafter, some of the first clients received care at this new, state-of-the-art facility, established with funding from the President's Emergency Plan. Mwananyamala Clinic is one of the few, but growing, number of health centers in the country that are providing care for people with HIV/AIDS. The nationwide HIV prevalence rate in Tanzania approximately seven percent, but is 10.7 percent in Dar es Salaam; both figures show a generalized epidemic in the country, and a tremendous need for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment.
At midday, Secretary Leavitt and Minister Mwakyusa together planted a neem tree, which has many medicinal properties, to commemorate the opening of the National HIV Quality-Assurance and Training Center in Dar es Salaam, on the campus of the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). HHS has its local offices in Tanzania on the NIMR campus, and experts from HHS/CDC work closely with staff from the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to strengthen the government of Tanzania’s capacity to respond to HIV and other health challenges. The building, completed in August 2007, provides space for a quality assurance laboratory for HIV and other infectious diseases; a laboratory for the diagnostic testing of emerging health threats, such as avian influenza and Rift Valley Fever; and two training laboratories.
Later that afternoon, Secretary Leavitt and the delegation sat in on a training class at the School of Nursing of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam. The Secretary then spoke to MUHAS students and faculty, and discussed the problem of stigma and discrimination towards HIV-positive health care workers in Tanzania. Secretary Leavitt expressed the U.S. government’s commitment to work with Tanzania to tackle the country’s health care challenges, such as the training of health workers.
One of the most moving visits of the day was at a home-based care program at a ward in the Kinondoni District in Dar es Salaam managed by a non-governmental organization and funded by the President’s Emergency Plan. The U.S. officials observed and learned about the Tutunzane (a Swahili word that means, “Let’s take care of each other”) community home-based care (CHBC) program, implemented by Pathfinder International in collaboration with various municipalities. The delegation broke into small groups and accompanied volunteer caregivers as they visited the homes of five people who are living with and receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS and, in some cases, tuberculosis. The volunteers teach clients about living positively; provide palliative care and basic nursing support; help prevent and treat opportunistic infections; offer emotional support; and assist with referrals to health-care, and basic social services. Each volunteer also provides to the beneficiary a home-based-care kit, which consists of a mosquito net, a clean water jug, and chlorine tablets for water purification. Pathfinder International implements the Tutunzane CHBC Program under the President's Emergency Plan in 12 districts in four regions of Tanzania, and its main partners are the Tanzanian Red Cross Association and Interchurch Medical Assistance. Pathfinder has trained hundreds of community home-based-care volunteers, and in FY 2007, it is scaling up its CHBC program to provide care to about 22,000 people.
Other members of the U.S. delegation visiting these projects in Tanzania included the Director of the Fogarty International Center at the HHS National Institutes of Health, Roger I. Glass, M.D., Ph.D.; and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Bureau of African Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Carol Thompson.
