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AMKA SASA PIMA HIV NA FURAHIA MAISHA

By Friday Simbaya, Songea

Peramiho residents have turned in great numbers in the just ended five days  health care providers’ initiate  testing and counseling (PITC) campaign dubbed as ‘AMKA SASA PIMA AFYA YAKO’ which was established at Peramiho Mission Hosptal, Songea (V) in Ruvuma Region.

The PITC which is part of National HIV and AIDS policy, it is a health care provider’s initiateD HIV testing and counseling with individuals attending health facilities who might benefit from knowing their HIV status.

Health care providers may therefore recommend HIV testing and counseling to patients in some settings even if the don’t have obvious HIV related symptoms and signs.

According to the PITC Focal Person Daniel Ndugunru, who is also Nurse in charge of the children’s ward at Peramiho Hospital, the campaign targeted to reach at 2,500 clients in the five-day campaign which started on Monday 10 and ended on 15, 2013.

Ndunguru told ‘The Guardian on Sunday’ that the campaign has gone through half of the target and added that the only challenge was lack of working tools like medicines.

He said that primary goal of HIV testing is to link clients with HIV infection to HIV medical care as soon as possible for better health outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA).

There were at least 16 health care providers deployed at the hospital since the start of the campaign supported by Walter Reed Program–Tanzania (WRP-T) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare  aimed at advancing HIV research, prevention and care in Tanzania.

The Walter Reed Program-Tanzania is US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) established to advance medical research in the country.

In Tanzania, access to knowledge of one’s HIV status has mainly been through Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), whereby clients proactively seek HIV testing and counseling services. But the current reports have shown very few clients has been reached through VCT, and many clients are been tested positive through PITC than VCT.

This raises the need for strengthening of health care providers initiate HIV testing and counseling (PITC). Research is conducted collaboratively with the National Institute for Medical Research, , the Mbeya Regional Medical Office, and the Mbeya Referral Hospital.

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