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Tanzania`s low class waking up to voluntary HIV/Aids testing call
2007-11-10 08:55:39
By Christine Afandi
From outside it is quite difficult to tell what is going on inside the medium sized compound.
The buildings look old, built in semi traditional style and are L-shaped.
One would mistake the place for a primary school, but it is a health centre that has been serving the locals for years.
The health centre situated at the junction of the busy Morogoro and Kawawa Roads in Magomeni, a suburb in Dar es Salaam, has had one of its rooms on the far right apportioned as a Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCT) for Angaza.
Angaza centres are available country wide and offer voluntary testing and counselling services for free to all and targets the low income groups who can not afford to pay for health services.
As early as 7.45 am on Monday morning the waiting area is full to capacity and a large crowd is still visible outside.
The silence signifies the gravity of the issue at hand though it need not be.
All these people have come to test for their HIV/Aids status and have their own reasons at that.
A guard who has worked at the hospital for ten years reveals that this has not always been the case, `People never used to come here at Angaza for voluntary counselling and testing, it`s only few people who came.`
`Many people started flocking to this area when the president himself had his HIV/Aids status confirmed by testing in public,` he adds.
The president of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete did indeed have a HIV/Aids test in public during the launching of the nationwide HIV/Aids campaign on July 14 this year in Dar es Salaam.
The president`s act has had a far reaching implication on Tanzania`s residents and especially the low class that lives on less than a dollar a day.
Most of those who visit Angaza at Magomeni are aged between 16 and 52 and have no money to pay in well established hospitals or private ones to test for HIV/Aids.
One of the VCT personnel at Angaza Magomeni confides that their services are free of charge and they receive so many people in a day which is encouraging.
She says that this shows how people have started being responsible and want to take control of their lives.
She insists that one can only take effective control of their lives by confirming their HIV/Aids status.
When I ask why there are so many youthful people at the VCT centre including high school students, another personnel who seeks to be anonymous intones, `The youth are sexually active and also want to experiment when it comes to sex, and most of them do not think much about safe sex until after the act or are easily dissuaded if they have older mates.` she says
Every one at Angaza has a reason why he or she came voluntarily to test for their HIV/Aids status including me.
Kitomary who is a form two student at a school in the city centre of Dar es Salaam says that she has been having an affair with his older boyfriend and all was going well until she discovered that his ex girlfriend died of HIV/Aids.
The young girl is strong and insists that she will only have herself to blame if she tests positive as her mother had warned her several times about indulging in sexual relationships.
Why did you choose to visit Angaza at Magomeni bypassing the one in Mnazi Mmoja?
Kitomary laughs nervously before whispering that at Magomeni they are more professional, friendly and helpful.
The same sentiment is echoed by most of the people who visit Angaza at Magomeni.
True, once you get at the Angaza VCT at Magomeni the mood changes, one might be forgiven for thinking that they are just at the centre to test for malaria and not a life threatening disease with far reaching implications!
Bakari says that for two weeks he has been contemplating on why he should have an HIV/Aids test, his presence at Angaza Magomeni branch shows that he saw the need to test.
He adds that no one talked to him about visiting the VCT, though the advertisements on TV and Radio touched and persuaded him to do so.
He likes the current advertisement on most FM stations where men are challenged to test their HIV/aids status.
`The advertisement makes great sense as men don`t like to test their status even when they know they are positive and instead spread it to women.`
He adds that if men change their negative attitude towards testing for HIV/Aids then the fight against HIV will move to a new level.
True to the assertion or is it by coincidence three quarters of those present at Angaza Magomeni are women and girls.
After going through a group session to familiarize everyone present with what is HIV/Aids for about an hour, though the process can take long depending on the questions from the patients, testing begins.
On this particular morning Musa who I come to learn comes from Manzese naively asks if HIV/Aids can be transmitted through sharing of a bathroom, toilet, food, cup or plate with an infected person.
Some of the people in the room laugh, others stare on with raised eye brows, our counsellor a middle aged woman who is like a mother figure takes it easy and throws the question back at the patients.
The matter is put to rest when everyone agrees that, that is not necessarily the case but a misconceived perception.
The questions that morning indicate that the government and Non Governmental Organizations still have a lot of work to do in the area of advocacy and creating awareness about HIV/Aids.
Most citizens are happy that they can test for their HIV status whenever they feel like and the fact that it is private and confidential and at no added cost as opposed to private hospitals and government health centres.
At Angaza Magomeni each one is issued with a number used instead of one`s name through counselling and testing, though the confirmed status of each patient is relayed by word of mouth and not in a written form.
Increased access to HIV testing and counselling is essential to promoting earlier diagnosis of HIV infection, which in turn can maximize the potential benefits of life-extending treatment and care, and allow people with HIV to receive information and tools to prevent HIV transmission to others.
The 2006 African Medical and Research Foundation survey shows that 450, 129 people in the country have tested for HIV in Tanzania and statistics shows that the most affected group is aged between 15 and 49.
Available statistics shows that HIV/Aids prevalence rate stands at 8.8 percent according to Health Focus magazine.
The magazine adds, to win HIV/Aids comprehensive information on HIV transmission to the population, addressing the vulnerability of women and girls to violence and abuse, ensured access to condoms, clean needles and methadone and expanded access to anti-retroviral drugs is needed.
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