Joseph Mwamunyange
24 July 2007
Nairobi — AS MORE AND MORE PEOPLE visit Care and Treatment Centres (CTC), the number of HIV patients on anti-retroviral therapy in Tanzania has increased by 100 percent in 10 districts.
The increase has been attributed to the introduction of "fellows" trained by the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/Aids Foundation, a non governmental organisation jointly initiated by former presidents of Tanzania and the US, Benjamin Mkapa and Bill Clinton, respectively.
"There has been a remarkable increase in enrolment of patients in care and treatment clinics. There were 1,332 patients when the fellows reported and the number increased to 3,146 after 8 months," said Dr Christopher Alexander, a Fellow from Mpanda.
Dr Alexander said the fellows were well received by district officials (district medical officers and district executive directors).
"This has been made possible by the good work done prior to their deployment to sensitise the officials on their arrival and the importance of the programme," said Dr Alexander.
IN DISTRICTS LIKE SIMANJIRO, Kilindi, Liwale and Micheweni, it was reported that the care and treatment services only began after the arrival of fellows.
There has been a remarkable increase in the number of hours of service and number of days patients attend the care and treatment centres.
Patients have been attended to at the CTC an average of five days a week in almost all districts with fellows. Previously, due to lack of human resources, patients could only be seen after other clinical work. Most patients travelled long distances and some had to spend a night to wait for the service.
The presence of fellows in the districts is filling the existing critical gap in human resources for health by improving other health services such as provision of clinical care in general, maternal and child health services, dental services medical and surgical services.
The fellows have been able to participate in the Comprehensive Council Health Plan-CCHP as district HIV/Aids consultants and managed to provide technical advice in integrating various HIV/Aids programmes in the plans.
In some districts, fellows have been nominated to act in various positions in the districts as health experts. In other districts like Simanjiro and Meatu, fellows have been appointed to act as district laboratory co-ordinators.
Under the Mkapa Fellows Programme, the fellows educate society from district level to schools and communities on HIV/Aids issues.
They also educate village leaders, faith leaders and traditional healers. The aim is to further reduce HIV/Aids transmission in the districts.
The programme, which gets financial support from the government of Norway and the Clinton HIV/Aids Initiative, is dedicated to addressing the gaps in human resource for the health sector, which is key in scaling up HIV/Aids care and treatment.
The main purpose of the programme is to recruit, train, deploy and retain skilled professionals to support the aggressive implementation of Tanzania's response to HIV/Aids, including but not limited to the National Care and Treatment Programme.
The three-year programme targets recruiting the 99 fellows who will serve 33 remote rural districts in strengthening HIV/Aids prevention, care and treatment. Until last March, the foundation had recruited 69 fellows who are serving 23 districts.
Each district received a team of three fellows of different health cadres. They were medical officers, assistant medical officers, nurses, laboratory technologists, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and pharmaceutical technicians.
THE DISTRICTS WERE CHOsen for high HIV prevalence rates, severe shortages of human resources and expertise in HIV/Aids care and treatment, difficulty of access and long distances from the regional hospital.
Fellows were deployed to the districts in two phases. Phase I covered Serengeti, Meatu, Manyoni, Sikonge, Mpanda, Kilindi, Micheweni, Newala, Liwale and Simanjiro.
Phase II covered Bunda, Bukombe, Iramba, Ruangwa, Urambo, and Nkasi. Other districts were Kilolo, Makete, Monduli, Tandahimba, Handeni and Wete.
The programme is now in the process of recruiting the third batch of 30 fellows who will be placed in another 10 districts. These are Tarime, Hanang, Sumbawanga Rural, North Unguja, Igunga, Nachingwea and Kilwa, Njombe, Kibondo and Singida rural.
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