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PEPFAR launches USD 25m youth...
2006-09-19 09:49:21
By Guardian Reporter
The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting a new USD 25 million youth HIV prevention activity in Tanzania.
Called UJANA, meaning ”youthfulness,” the five-year project will be implemented by Family Health International (FHI), a US Embassy press statement issued in Dar es Salaam yesterday says.
”Three Tanzanian partners, the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), Femina/Health Information Project and TRACE OD (Organisational Development Training and Facilitation Centre) will help implement UJANA,” reads the statement, in part.
UP to 50 Tanzanian organisations will also be eligible for sub-grants, it says, adding: ”HIV/Aids is perceived as a national disaster, threatening the health of Tanzanians and economic growth.
Approximately, 60 per cent of new infections occur among Tanzania’s youth, with girls and young women particularly affected and increasingly at risk.”
Most Tanzanians youth, it notes, know about HIV/Aids though lack the knowledge and skills to prevent HIV.
To address the challenges, a press statement says, UJANA will help the youths to change their behaviour and develop skills necessary to prevent HIV.
The statement adds: ”UJANA will work with influential adults and the community to help youth abstain from or delay sex, remain faithful to one partner if engaged in a relationship, reduce the number of their partners or if appropriate,use condoms.”
The name UJANA, concludes the statement, captures the energy and spirit of youth and each of the initial letters reflects some of the project’s philosophy: Ustadi, Juhudi, Ari, ni Nguzo za Afya, which translates to; ”skills, efforts, and enthusiasm are pillars of health.”
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