Emily Bell — Health workers are crucial to the fight against HIV/AIDS

The Who Cares? Campaign Blog is exploring HIV/AIDS for the month of December.

The first day of December marks World AIDS Day – a time to remember the 25 million people who have died of AIDS and the estimated 33 million who are living with the HIV virus that causes this disease. It is also a time to redouble our collective efforts to fight this global pandemic.

Sixty-seven percent of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, approximately 6.2 percent of the population, or 1.4 million people, are living with HIV. Considerable progress is being made in Tanzania (e.g., reported drops in HIV incidence among Tanzanian women). But, far too many women, men, and children in Tanzania continue to become infected, remain undiagnosed, or continue to lack access to treatment. HIV/AIDS has also caused a deadly resurgence in tuberculosis and it is critical that the two diseases be tackled in tandem.

The Tanzanian government recognizes that a holistic approach to fighting HIV/AIDS is required to make real progress. This includes behavior and communication strategies to prevent infection and spread of HIV, more community health workers, improved education in schools, reliable drug and food supplies, addressing socio-cultural factors such as women’s rights, and a comprehensive medical approach that addresses  malnutrition, malaria, TB and other complicating factors among HIV-positive individuals.

A radical increase in the number of trained medical professionals – including medical doctors, nurses, assistant medical officers (AMOs), laboratory technicians, among others – is also crucial to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The US President’s Emergency Program to Fight AIDS (PEPAR) is demonstrating awareness about the urgent need to build the health worker pipeline and has set a target to train 140,000 new health workers over the next five years in the countries hardest hit by the epidemic. Congress included this milestone when lawmakers reauthorized the program last year. At a recent meeting of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, the US Global AIDS Coordinator, Dr. Eric Goosby, spoke about the need to partner with medical schools to increase their numbers, training capacity and the clinical capability of medical students from Africa and other developing countries (see Science Speaks blog).

The Touch Foundation is supporting Weill Bugando’s university to train more health workers, many of whom are already engaged in responding to the disease on a daily basis at Bugando’s teaching hospital (the second largest in the country). Nearly one quarter of Bugando’s patients test positive for HIV. The Touch Foundation and Abbott Fund’s support to refurbish the laboratory there will enable more timely and effective diagnosis – and therefore treatment – of HIV.

Emily Bell is Head of Advocacy and Communications at the Touch Foundation.