HIV/AIDS programmes need to reach rural folk, UN official says

UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot has expressed some satisfaction with Tanzania's war against HIV/AIDS, but not so with efforts to confront the scourge in rural areas. "It appears the programmes are concentrated in urban areas," Piot said on Friday. "I was moved by the trend in Mwanza [northern Tanzania] where the number of new infections has been dropping in urban centres. But when I visited rural areas, new infections were on the rise," he said. He said a lot of money had been given to the government to combat the pandemic. This, he said, was also true for many African countries. He was speaking in Dar es Salaam, the nation's commercial capital, after a three-day tour of the East African country accompanying Princess Mathilde of Belgium and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Ann Veneman. Without giving statistics, he said HIV/AIDS infection rates in East Africa were on a downward trend, but the fight against the pandemic was far from being won. "Anti-AIDS efforts should be seen as part and parcel of the country's development agenda. It should be seen as a serious threat to the country's future. "The current drought in the (East African) region will have adverse effects on the efforts of prevention and treatment," he said. Also commenting on the war against the pandemic, Veneman said mass education was vital for sustained progress. She said while the highest level of government had shown commitment in this fight, some young people told her they needed more education and access to counselling as well as testing facilities. Princess Mathilde, who is UNICEF'S goodwill ambassador, also said ignorance played a major part in the drive against HIV/AIDS. A government survey shows that about 7 percent of adult Tanzanians (two million) are HIV positive.