ANGAZA - HIV voluntary counselling and testing services
In the last 20 years, HIV/AIDS has spread rapidly across Tanzania, lowering life expectancy, harming the economy and leaving one in ten Tanzanian children orphaned.
Whilst acknowledged as a national disaster, less than 10% of the country’s late teen and adult population are aware of their HIV status, rendering it impossible to contain the disease and difficult to care for those that have been already infected.
For many Tanzanians, HIV/AIDS testing remains stigmatised. Until recently, testing was carried out with little regard for confidentiality and was followed up with ineffective and inappropriate counselling.
Girls and young women are often the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and are three times more likely to be HIV positive than their male counterparts. This is partly the result of cultural traditions, which make it difficult for females to negotiate safe sex and refuse the advances of older men.
Other cultural norms provide obstacles to the fight against HIV/AIDS. For example, married couples often fail to discuss sex despite the fact that half of HIV infections occur within marriage. Parents rarely talk to their children about their sexuality. Lack of openness increases ignorance and creates stigma and embarrassment around discovering one’s HIV status.
AIMS
The Angaza project, meaning ‘shed light’ in Kiswahili aims to remove the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and therefore reduce the spread of the disease by:
- Encouraging every Tanzanian to know their HIV status
- Increasing access to quality testing and counselling services
- Providing community care support for those with HIV/AIDS
- Using rapid HIV tests which are accurate, easy to perform, low cost and which require minimal laboratory equipment
- Training voluntary counselling and testing counsellors
- Increasing social marketing campaigns to improve awareness of testing sites and to dispel myths and stigma surrounding the disease
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Over half a million people have been tested at voluntary counselling and testing sites
- USAID has funded the construction of a modern training centre at AMREF with computers, publications on HIV/AIDS, counselling and clinical research available
- Over 90 counsellors have been trained
- Over 200 people have been trained to educate and sensitise their own communities
- A high profile, mass media campaign has publicised the HIV/AIDS epidemic and encouraged people to go for testing and become aware of their HIV status
- Post test clubs have been set up to support those who have tested positive and to discuss HIV/AIDS related information
