Tanzanian parliament on Tuesday passed amendments designed to allow HIV/AIDS self-testing and lowering the age of HIV testing without parental consent to 15 years.

“These amendments will significantly accelerate our intentions to meet the 90-90-90 goals which aim at ending the AIDS epidemic by 2020,” Ummy Mwalimu, Minister for Health, told the House in the capital Dodoma.

The 90-90-90 is an ambitious treatment target to help end the AIDS epidemic. It states that by 2020, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

Mwalimu was speaking after Members of Parliament had passed the amendments of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act, 2019 tabled in parliament under the Written Laws Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 2019.

The new law will allow 15 years old children to undergo HIV/AIDS self testing, but insists the process should be voluntary. It also requires a person assisting another one to undertake HIV self-testing to comply with principles of confidentiality.

Mwalimu said amendments of the law were part of strategies to encourage more Tanzanians to go for HIV/AIDS testing as well as achieve the 90-90-90 targets by 2030.

She said the 2015/2016 Tanzania Demographic Health Survey indicated that HIV/AIDS infections among children between 0 and 14 years were 0.4 percent, adding that most of them were infected by their mothers.

Statistics from Health Ministry show that new infections on youth aged 15 to 19 are high, about 65,000 yearly and out of them 80 percent are girls and only 20 percent are boys.

Tanzania has 1.4 million people affected by HIV and the government wants 90-percent of the country’s population to know their status, whereas currently it is only 62 percent who know their status.

It is estimated that over 3,000 patients died in sub-Saharan Africa on a daily basis due to HIV in 2015. Ten countries in Africa carry 80 percent of the total HIV burden. They are South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Enditem

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KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — It has been reported time and again that new HIV infections in Malaysia are because of sexual transmission.

The Health Ministry has reported that this mode of transmission was responsible for 91 per cent of new infections in 2017.

Considering how sex education and the use of condoms are still largely a taboo subjects among the general public, Malaysian AIDS Foundation together with the world’s largest condom manufacturer Karex and The Body Shop have joined hands to fight against HIV and AIDS with the launch of a limited edition condom.

MAF chairman Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman said the idea behind the partnership was to combat the growing cases of sexually transmitted HIV infections in the country and educate the public about safe sex.

“Over the years, we have done well to reduce the number of HIV positive cases among injecting drug users through our harm reduction project and needle-and-syringe exchange programme,” said Dr Adeeba, who was recently appointed as the president-elect of the International AIDS Society (IAS).

However, she added that there was still a lot to be done with sexual transmitted cases as the numbers continue to rise.

With numerous projects running concurrently throughout the year, Dr Adeeba said MAF’s goal was to get 90 per cent of people who are HIV positive to know their status and get them to be on treatment.

The three-year campaign, which will kick off this month, aims to raise awareness and evoke social change in response to the worrying rise in sexually transmitted HIV infections through the sale of 12,000 packs of specially packaged ONE condoms supplied by Karex across all The Body Shop outlets nationwide.

Each pack contains three pieces of “Super Sensitive” condoms and will be sold at RM6.

The environmental-friendly packaging also features a manual, which illustrates how to put on a condom properly.

The condoms are available at all The Body Shop outlets (except Sarawak, Johor Premium Outlet and Mitsui Outlet Park).

All proceeds from the sale will be channelled to MAF’s general HIV presentation and treatment fund for various projects, including treatment support, women empowerment and other HIV intervention programmes run by MAF as well as the Malaysian AIDS Council.

Speaking about the partnership, Dr Adeeba said Karex and The Body Shop are among MAF’s most dedicated partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

“MAF has a long history of partnership with The Body Shop and its owner Datin Mina Cheah, who is a former Trustee of the foundation.

“Karex, on the other hand, is a good friend of the foundation, and has always stepped in for nearly all of our fundraising and awareness campaigns,” she added.

For Karex, the three-year campaign is all about changing mindsets and breaking the stigma surrounding condoms.

Its contribution to the campaign is an extension of the condom manufacturer’s ongoing efforts to stand against HIV/AIDS and other pertinent sexual diseases.

Karex chief executive officer Goh Miah Kiat said they were happy to once again collaborate with MAF as it was the custodian of the fight against HIV/AIDS in Malaysia.

Throughout the campaign, Goh said Karex will work on various programmes to educate the public on the importance of safe sex.

Celebrities, including Deborah Henry and Joey G. will lead the campaign with a strong message about prevention of sexually transmitted HIV infection, while empowering women to protect themselves against HIV.

Aside from the limited edition condoms, ONE will also be giving out specially-designed HIV/AIDS awareness T-shirts to its customers who spend RM100 on any ONE products in a single or accumulative receipt(s) as part of its “Street Art Campaign”.

With every T-shirt redemption, the condom maker will be donating RM5 to MAF.

On top of its partnership with MAF, Karex has been running an annual art competition, entitled “Art Against AIDS”.

Art Against AIDS is an annual art competition cum campaign encouraging university students and the public at large to drive their creativity through creating artwork.

In line with World AIDS Day in December, Art Against AIDS aims to raise awareness on taboo subjects surrounding sexual education including the stigmatisation on HIV/AIDS.

Globally, Karex also supplies condoms to governments and non-profit organisations for AIDS awareness and prevention programmes.

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