Remote areas to benefit from $5.4 million grant for HIV prevention

People living in remote areas in Tanzania are due to benefit from a US $5.4 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public-private partnership formed in 2002 to attract resources to fight the three diseases. The Fund reported on Monday that the grant would cater for HIV preventive education in the country over five years, "focusing on young people and vulnerable populations in 12 districts". The grant will facilitate the expansion of community-driven preventive programmes aimed at civil servants, teachers and health care workers, the Fund said in a statement. It said this would ensure that the youth and poor and marginalised populations were better informed about protecting themselves from HIV. It said that HIV prevalence in the adult population in the country was estimated at 12 percent, and that about two million people had been infected with HIV to date. "The prevalence rates range from four to 32 percent among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics for the first time," the Fund said. The Tanzania AIDS Commission and the President's Office for Regionalisation and Local Administration will coordinate the programmes financed by the grant.