Tanzania to Integrate Reproductive Health, Family Planning and HIV/AIDS

By AJAAT

Efforts are under way in Tanzania to integrate reproductive health, family planning and HIV/AIDS services to provide better, more comprehensive care and treatment at lower cost.

Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam recently, the Representative of Voice of America (VOA), Mwamoyo Hamza said often these services are offered at different facilities  by different providers, making it more time- consuming and expensive for women, who need family planning as well as HIV/AIDS services.

“Supporters say that integrating these services would help reduce vulnerability to HIV, reduce sexually transmitted infections, and provide information to men and women about preventing HIV and reproductive health as well as planning their families”, he added.

The process could help Tanzania achieve three of the Millennium Development Goals, which are reducing poverty, child deaths and improving maternal deaths. However, integration was not without challenges.

Mwamoyo said these include country’s lack of health professionals, resources to cross-train reproductive health and HIV/AIDS service providers. Currently, integration was being tried through various projects in Tanzania.” One question was whether these attempts have been successful enough to scale it up to a national level?”,  he asked.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam recently, Alisa Cameron, USAID/Tanzania Health Team Leader said the Global Health Initiative through the United States was investing US dollars 63 billion over six years to help partner countries strengthening their systems which would improve health outcomes.

She said there was a particular focus on bolstering the health of women, newborns and children by combating infectious diseases and providing quality health services. She added that for every US dollar invested in health systems, the Global Health Initiative (GHI) aims to maximize the health impact on citizens.

“In Tanzania the GHI builds on over four decades of partnership between the US government and the Republic of Tanzania. It represents an opportunity to contribute further to Tanzania’s development goals in health. The vision was to improve the health of all Tanzanians and especially the health of the most vulnerable groups of women, girls, newborns and children under the age of five” Lisa said.

The GHI was launched by President Barack Obama on May5, 2009. The GHI was a model that builds on the Bush Administration’s successful record in global health, notably as the President’s Emergence Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President’s Malaria Initiative.