Amref Health Africa in Tanzania through the Afya Kamilifu project in partnership with the Ministry of Health celebrated the great strides it has made to commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. Since October 2018, the project which is funded by President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Center for Disease and Prevention (CDC) has supported the implementation of TB and TB/HIV services across four regions in Tanzania; Mara, Simiyu, Tanga and Zanzibar.
The project supports the provision of TB core services at 275 health facilities and has reached 150,000 clients. The provision of TB and TB/HIV services are conducted in collaboration with National TB and Leprosy program (NTLP), National Aids Control Program (NACP) and councils in all four regions to ensure improvement and good quality of TB and TB/HIV services.
Under this year’s theme “Invest to End TB, Save Lives”, Amref will continue to support the United Republic of Tanzania in the fight against TB with a goal of achieving the 95-95-95 target set by the United Nation. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report published in 2020, Tanzania is one of the 30 countries with the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world.
Speaking during the World TB Day commemorations, Dr Aisa Muya, Director of Programmes at Amref Health Africa in Tanzania noted that there is a need to increase financial and human resources in order to effectively fight TB.
“We will continue to work closely with the government, including the speaker’s office, parliament, religious leaders, and all stakeholders in the fight against tuberculosis and collectively work towards achieving the national and international goals of eradicating TB by 2035,” she said.
In his statement, Dr Muya urged the government and all the stakeholders to include TB in their strategies and plans as well as invest in TB programmes, which are important steps to help eradicate the infectious disease by 2035.
Afya Kamilifu project works jointly with the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) and Tanzania Communication and Development Center (TCDC). In addition, other support offered at TB clinics and Care and Treatments Clinics are; provision of TB medicines for TB patients, direct observed treatment or home-based treatment, TB medicines for TB patients and Antiretroviral drugs for clients with both TB and HIV. The project also offers prevention services such as; the provision of Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) to eligible clients, health education of TB among clients and the community, routine TB screening to clients or patients attending health facilities as well as TB screening and HIV testing.
About the Project.
‘Afya Kamilifu project’, is a five-year project (1st 2018 – Sept 2023) funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), through the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in Tanzania, and is being implemented by Amref Health Africa in partnership with the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) and Tanzania Communication and Development Centre (TCDC). Afya Kamilifu project has close collaboration and guidance from the Tanzania Ministry of Health (MoH) and Zanzibar Ministry of health, and President’s Office, Regional Authorities and Local Government (PO-RALG).
The project purpose is to contribute to the efforts of Tanzania in attaining the 95-95- 95 fast track target by 2020 to eliminate AIDS by 2030, through the implementation of comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment services supported by continuous quality improvement, monitoring and evaluation, and laboratory services strengthening.
Implemented in both Tanzania Mainland (Tanga, Simiyu, Mara, and Zanzibar, the ‘Afya Kamilifu’ Project targets are built on the PEPFAR and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) fast track targets of 95-95-95 by 2030. The 95-95-95 model implies that by 2030, 95% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, while 95% of people who know their status are on lifelong antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people on treatment attain the desired viral suppression./agencies
