Four Ways We ’re Adapting HIV Services during COVID-19 in Tanzania

By Kija Nyalali, Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, IntraHealth International, Tanzania A community volunteer recruits clients interested in VMMC services in Ukerewe, Tanzania. Photo by Josh Estey for IntraHealth International.November 18, 2020In Tanzania, the first case of COVID-19 was reported on March 16, 2020. When the country’s government instituted preventive measures to keep the disease from spreading, those same measures made it tougher to provide other services that can prevent a different infectious disease: HIV.So IntraHealth International’sTohara Plus team had to adjust.The Tohara Plus project offers high-quality, safe voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services to men in Tanzania—a procedure that reduces a man’s risk of acquiring HIV through heterosexual intercourseby about 60%. The onset of the pandemic required us to change our operational and programmatic approaches (and those of our partners, AFYA Plus and TAYOA) and find new ways to keep VMMC services available while also keeping clients, frontline health workers, and our staff safe.About 1.4 million Tanzanians are living with HIV, or 4.7% of adults. Given VMMC’s effectiveness, the government is scaling it up as a critical HIV-prevention strategy in the country. Preventing new cases not only saves lives, it also reduces the burden on the country’s health workers who are providing HIV care and treatment to those who need it.So to keep V...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: HIV & AIDS COVID-19 Source Type: news