JK showers praise on Bush

Correspondent in Washington Daily News; Sunday,August 31, 2008 @08:25

Also in the News Bandits make away with 4m/- car HC dismisses appeal by murderer, human 'skinners UDSM to change curricula to accommodate police VP urges parents to ensure children get vaccinated Govt reviews adverse effects of vaccines TPDC queries high power tariffs JK showers praise on Bush Govt. committed to giving Kigoma electric power ICTR annuls 25-year sentence for suspect of 1994-Rwanda genocide Tanzania smallholder farmers receive US$20m grant from US PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has thanked US President George Bush for assisting Tanzania during his tenure of office, especially in education and the fight against malaria and HIV/AIDS. President Kikwete expressed his gratitude at White House last Friday when he visited President Bush and held talks on various issues, as part of his three-day state tour of the United States. President Kikwete acknowledged that contributions from President Bush in such areas had their own significance in the development of Tanzania – and particularly singled out the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic and malaria – for having protected the country's workforce. President Bush runs a personal malaria initiative that has reached some 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last three years. Nowhere has it had a more dramatic impact than on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar, where insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying have reduced the incidence of malaria from about 20 per cent of the population to just one per cent. "Of course, our biggest challenge now with Zanzibar is how to sustain that success, because it is only 30 kilometers away on the mainland. In Dar es Salaam, malaria is still there," he said. "So, if people go to Zanzibar with malaria, then the problem goes there too." Fighting the disease was a big focus of the president's trip to Africa earlier this year, when he met with President Kikwete at State House in Dar es Salaam. The president also cited the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Tanzania, saying it had played a major role in prolonging the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2003, PEPFAR donated some $45m to finance a five-year programme which enabled at least 50,000 people infected with the killer disease to get ARVs that prolong the lives of infected people. Mr Kikwete said that such assistance had since served thousands of other parents who could have possibly lost their lives as a result of the pandemic. Mr Kikwete said the United States has also played a decisive role in fighting malaria in both Tanzania's mainland and isles of Zanzibar, citing the latter as a success story where prevalence of the disease has been reduced from 86 per cent a few years ago to just one per cent last year. The president also acknowledged the role played by the US government in spearheading peace and efforts to resolve political crises in the war-torn areas of Darfur in Sudan. On his part, President George Walker Bush appreciated the Tanzania government efforts to contain the spread of the diseases and in providing ARVs and public education related to those programmes among the people. President Bush also hailed Tanzania -- with a population of more than 38 million – for spending the PEPFAR funds on its intended purposes. President Bush, who is expected to end his eight-year tenure at White House next October, hailed President Kikwete in his capacity as chairman of the African Union (AU), for his active participation in promoting peace and finding solutions facing African countries such as Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, the US has dished out $22.5m for construction of HIV/AIDS clinics in Mbeya and Mwanza regions – which is being implemented in partnership with the Baylor International Paediatric AIDS (BIPAI) Initiative aimed at improving access to health care for children with HIV/Aids. BIPAI president Mark Kline said the new clinic would bring the first paediatricians trained in the special needs of children with HIV/Aids to Mbeya region. It is estimated that there are currently more than 150,000 (UNAIDS 2008) children in Tanzania living with HIV/AIDS – who need treatment and care. Mbeya has the second highest rate of HIV in the country, with a prevalence rate of more than 13 per cent, among a population of more than two million. According to the National AIDS Control Project (NACP), only 2,280 children were last year registered to receive care with half of them receiving antiretroviral therapy. In contrast, almost 16,000 adults in Mbeya are on ARV therapy.

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