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Clinton’s message of hope
2005-07-21 07:34:48
By Bilal Abdul-Aziz
Former US President Bill Clinton issued a statement of hope to people living with HIV/Aids yesterday, but cautioned that a lot needed to be done in fighting the scourge.
Clinton made the remarks shortly before he lit a candle to officially launch the Benjamin William Mkapa Fellows Programme at a colourful ceremony at State House in Dar es Salaam.
The programme, Hope Matumaini, undertaken in partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the Tanzanian government, will assist in the advanced training and development of medical professionals each year.
’There is a lot to be done to make our children grow knowingly that there is hope…so that they could face the fact and run towards hope…where there is light,’ he said, adding that people living with HIV/Aids, especially children, needed hope ”today and tomorrow.
Clinton said fighting HIV/Aids needed more dedicated and collective efforts of all people.
Unless we move effectively and vigorously, all other efforts being made won’t bear fruit,” the former US President said.
He added: ”Mkapa fellows will receive further training in HIV/Aids clinical care and treatment in addition to administration and management before serving at the district level in the most remote areas.
He noted that the programme would provide highly dedicated and skilled personnel who would work on care and treatment in under-served regions where there was limited access to health services.
In his statement of hope earlier, President Mkapa said: We are here today to celebrate life and bring hope to those who would otherwise be without hope.
He said HIV/Aids was for too long seen as the end of hope, in contrast to the situation in rich countries where the affliction had been changed from being a death sentence to a manageable condition.
All manner of explanations were given to deny people access to life-prolonging drugs.
Our people were condemned to die just because they were too poor to afford the life-giving drugs modern science had produced, President Mkapa noted.
He paid glowing tribute to Clinton, describing the former US leader as ”a veritable bearer of hope” for people living with HIV/Aids in Tanzania and the continent at large.
He is a veritable bearer of hope…in Tanzania and Africa, of which, sadly, there are too many (people living with HIV/Aids), President Mkapa said.
”Former President Clinton has a big heart with big compassionate ideas and big plans for those in need,” he added.
As part of the launch ceremony, the audience, which included ministers, religious leaders and members of the diplomatic corps, had the opportunity to hear the experiences of people living with HIV/Aids.
Standard Four pupil Irene Andrew and a widow, Agnes
Christopher, narrated challenges they faced after testing positive for HIV.
Agnes, who lost her husband to Aids in 1996, said she lost hope and sold all her property after testing positive.
’If there was counselling, my husband could still be alive today and I would not have sold my property,’ she said.
The mission of the programme is to have adequate, competent and skilled human resources who are highly dedicated and motivated to work in health facilities at all levels both in rural and urban settings.
The Hope Matumaini programme will be funded by the Clinton Foundation and the Norwegian government.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Hussein Mwinyi, chairs the technical team of the programme while the board, consisting of a multi-sectoral committee of stakeholders appointed by President Mkapa and Clinton, leads its operations.
The Mkapa Fellows Progamme will be a core part of the Clinton Foundation’s Rural Initiative in Tanzania which seeks to widen access to drugs for the most socio-economically disadvantaged and remote populations.
Unlike last week when US First Lady Laura Bush visited the country, security was not as tight yesterday.
FBI agents clad in dark suits with their faces hidden behind dark glasses and US marines were nowhere to be seen.
Clinton, who arrived in Dar es Salaam early yesterday, is on a six-nation tour of Africa to see how HIV/Aids is affecting children on the world’s poorest continent.
He is expected to visit Zanzibar today before proceeding to Kenya and Rwanda tomorrow.
He visited Mozambique, Lesotho and South Africa before coming to Tanzania.
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