Search
  1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Tanzania
  • News

Muslims take new role in HIV/AIDS prevention

    JOHANNESBURG

    UNAIDS on Wednesday hailed as "new and helpful" a move by 14 religious leaders in Tanzania who voluntarily tested HIV earlier this week.

    The sheikhs, imams and religious teachers took the tests following a meeting with the UN Children's Fund earlier this month where the role of Muslim religious leaders in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes was debated.

    "It is a small step but one that will encourage more people to get tested, especially at a community level, where people respect their religious leaders. This is possibly an invitation for all religious leaders to follow suit," the programme adviser for UNAIDS in Tanzania, Hilde Basstanie, told the UN news agency Plusnews.

    "There are currently no figures on HIV prevalence amongst the Muslim population, but there are about two million Tanzanians living with HIV/AIDS," Basstanie added.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join