UNITED STATES RENEWS SUPPORT TO THE TANZANIAN PEOPLE TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS

May 18, 2017

The United States Government, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has approved plans to provide US$526 million over the coming year to combat HIV/AIDS in Tanzania.  This support will bring the total number of Tanzanians on HIV treatment up to 1.2 million and will advance the fight against HIV through testing, treatment, viral suppression, and prevention, toward the ultimate goal of completely eliminating AIDS by 2030.

 The funds will support the activities under the PEPFAR Country Operational Plan from October 2017 to September 2018, and represent a 12.3% increase over last year’s budget.  Under the renewed plan, PEPFAR will work with the Government of Tanzania and implementing partners to provide HIV testing to 8.6 million Tanzanians and provide treatment to 360,000 people who newly test positive, bringing the total number of Tanzanians on HIV treatment up to 1.2 million.  The budget includes special allocations for the care and treatment of orphans and vulnerable children and to prevent gender-based violence.  In addition, to further prevent HIV transmission, PEPFAR will support voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for 890,000 men.

This plan continues the United States’ longstanding partnership with Tanzania in the health sector, including a decade of collaboration to successfully curb HIV transmission and work towards an AIDS-Free Generation.  Commenting on the approved plan, Chargé d’Affaires Virginia Blaser said, “On behalf of the American people, we are extremely pleased to continue our support for and partnership with the Tanzanian people.  Together, we are working to achieve an AIDS-Free Generation in Tanzania – one in which no one is left behind.” 

PEPFAR’s partners and stakeholders in the development and implementation of this plan include the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, the Tanzanian Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Global Fund to Fight Tuberculosis, AIDS,  and Malaria (GFTAM), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Benjamin Mkapa HIV/AIDS Foundation (BMAF), and the National Network of Tanzanian Women with HIV/AIDS (NETWO+).

For more information on PEPFAR in Tanzania please visit the U.S. Embassy’s website at https://tz.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/pepfar/.

To request more information about this statement, please call the U.S. Embassy Dar es Salaam Press Office at Tel: +255 22 229-4000 or email: DPO@state.gov.