Tanzania Considers Compulsory HIV Testing for All Citizens

via AllAfrica.com, by Alvar Mwakyusa

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs) and a section of lawmakers have proposed that every person living in the country be subjected to compulsory HIV testing in a bid to promote the fight against the disease.

However, not everyone supports the idea. Some of the people interviewed by the 'Daily News' are against the idea. Many point out that it is against human rights to compel someone to undergo a HIV test or any other medical tests.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam recently, the board chairperson of the National Council of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NACOPHA), Mr Vitalis Makayula, was of a view that if the fight against the disease was to be won, then all people must be aware of their HIV status.

He also said that those found to be positive must disclose their status. Mr Makayula made these remarks at a seminar organized by the Association of Journalists Against AIDS in Tanzania (AJAAT), to sensitize journalists on the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act (HAPCA) of 2008.

"Tackling HIV/AIDS would be more effective if everyone tested for HIV and disclose his/her status. Otherwise it is like fighting an enemy you don't know," he stressed.

Mr Makayula was also optimistic that if everyone knew their HIV status stigma against those found to be positive would be reduced.When contacted for comment, the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Seif Suleiman Rashid, said that there are factors that must be considered before deciding if testing should be compulsory or not.

"Before deciding on the matter we should consider revising the current legislation, human rights and availability of resources, among others. It is an issue which requires discussion among experts and stakeholders," he explained in a telephone interview.

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Have a Coke and an Anti-Retroviral - Fighting AIDS in Tanzania

via Slate, by Sonia Smith

A Coca-Cola truck rumbled down the road, ferrying its bubbly, sugary cargo to shops and kiosks in the northern part of the country around the edge of Kilimanjaro National Park. The one thing you can be sure of finding in any far-flung corner of Tanzania is a bottle of Coke. A new pilot program—the first of its kind—aims to make anti-retroviral drugs as easily accessible as a bottle of soda by tapping into Coca-Cola's established delivery network throughout Tanzania.

Tanzania's government supply-chain agency, the Medical Stores Department, currently distributes anti-retrovirals, malaria medication, and other drugs to 500 points around Tanzania, but President Jakaya Kikwete wants medicine taken to the doorsteps of all of the country's 5,000 health facilities. Widening the distribution net so broadly could prove a daunting task, since Tanzania's current distribution system is already overtaxed, and even the best health facilities have trouble keeping all the necessary medicines in stock.

Enter Coca-Cola. The beverage giant, which opened its first bottling plant in Tanzania in 1952, has spent decades finding the most efficient way to reach distant villages and adapting to changing roadway conditions.

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[Content that is linked from other sources is for informational purposes and should not construe a Mapping Pathways position.]