With the increased focus of AIDS support to Africa in recent years, bringing access to antiretroviral treatment; still less than 1 in 10 Africans in need of treatment received it by the end of 2005—and, prevention efforts have not resulted in appropriate behavior necessary to reverse the epidemic.¹ Many communities do not have access to preventive information, technologies and tools to support behavior change.

HIV/AIDS is increasingly becoming the major underlying factor for hospital admissions and deaths. Many diseases, which seemed to have been controlled ten years ago, have returned to previous levels due to HIV/AIDS. For example the prevalence of HIV infection among 128 newly detected tuberculosis patients in Mbeya in 1995 was 52%, whereas that proportion in Bukoba hospital in 1992 was 57.4%. Studies conducted in Dar es Salaam, Hai and Morogoro showed that HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of adult mortality especially among women.

A USAID-led mission undertaken in late 2003 reported that:

"HIV continues to impose a heavy burden on the Tanzanian health care system. It is estimated that an HIV-positive adult will have about seventeen illness episodes before death, and that the health care costs can be twice the Tanzanian GDP per capita. An estimated 50 percent to 60 percent of hospital beds are occupied by patients with HIV/AIDS-related illness and, in some hospitals, this proportion may be even higher. For example, in a random survey of 20 male and female patients at one district hospital, about 75 percent were infected with HIV. This report concluded that although the majority of people living with HIV do not know that they are infected, most need and seek treatment for opportunistic infections, including tuberculosis and other HIV related illnesses. Hospitals are becoming increasingly overcrowded, leading to reduced or poor quality of care for all patients."

According to WHO, during 2001, there were no Tanzanians receiving ART (Antiretroviral Therapy). In January 2004, Tanzania's Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism reported that 0.5 percent of people with "advanced HIV infection" were receiving HAART. Few Tanzanians who are clinically eligible for HAART can afford treatment. Other factors that contribute to low uptake include lack of social support networks and issues of confidentiality.

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1 African Medical and Research Foundation, http://www.amref.org/index.asp?PageID=50&PiaID=2