Tanzania to buy ARV’s from Uganda

Dar es Salaam.  Tanzania will start importing the anti-retroviral (ARVs) drugs from Uganda in the fight against HIV-Aids.
President Samia Suluhu, during day one of her two-day state visit to Uganda, agreed with her host President Yoweri Museveni that Uganda would supply her country with the drugs.
An agreement for the collaboration on the development of vaccines was also signed during the trip.
According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report there are 1.7 million people living with HIV in Tanzania as of 2019.
“As of December 2019, about 1,277,012 people living with HIV were on antiretroviral therapy (ART) whereas 850,485 were women and 426,527 men,” the UNAIDS report states.
It adds that, As of June 2020, 28.2 million people with HIV (75 percent) were accessing ART globally.
HIV prevalence in Tanzania is characterised by significant heterogeneity across age, gender, social-economic status and geographical location, implying differentials in the risk of transmission of infection. HIV prevalence has steadily declined over the past decades from 7 percent in 2003 to 4.6 percent in 2018 in adults 15 -49 years.
The HIV burden is higher in urban areas than in rural areas - 7.5 percent versus 4.5 percent respectively. Njombe region has the highest prevalence estimate (11.4 percent) followed by Iringa (11.3 percent) and Mbeya (9.3 percent).
Lindi region has the lowest HIV prevalence of less than 1 percent, according Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS).
Tanzania’s goal is to reach HIV epidemic control by 2030, with 95 percent of people living with the disease aware of their HIV status, 95 percent of those testing positive placed on continuous HIV treatment, and 95 percent of those on treatment reaching viral suppression.