The Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar has signed an agreement with the Global Fund to grant funds to fight against malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis worth 11 million dollars.
The event was held at the ZURA hall, witnessed by several officials of the Government of Zanzibar and a representative of the World Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Speaking at the event on behalf of the Second Vice President, the Minister of State in the Office of the Second Vice President, Hamza Hassan Juma, said that the funds will help achieve the main goal of providing sustainable services to the Zanzibaris community.
He assured the leadership of the Global Fund, that the government will fully manage the funds and they will be used for their intended purpose as history shows that there has been no embezzlement from the fund in previous years.
“I have been informed that for this period of 2024 to 2026, more than 10 million US dollars have been allocated for these development projects.
“This is a lot of money that will help the people of Zanzibar and Tanzania in general, because Zanzibar’s health services do not have national borders”.
Earlier, the Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Amour Mohamed, explained the achievements as well as the areas that need to be related to the trend of malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.
He said, in terms of Malaria, it still has an infection of less than one percent and that was based on the 2022 community health research report.
However, he said, the Malaria statistics show that there is an increase in the number of patients, for the year 2023, 18,174 patients were reported compared to the year 2022 when there were 4,557 patients.
In terms of deaths, he said, they have increased to 19 in 2023 compared to four deaths in 2023.
He mentioned the challenges facing the program to end malaria, including climate change that led to long autumn rains that caused an increase in mosquito breeding.
In terms of tuberculosis, statistics show an increase in those patients from 1,074 in 2020 to 1,135 in 2023, where the majority of victims were men aged 25 to 65.
In terms of AIDS, he said, from research it has been found that there are 8,866 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Zanzibar who are receiving treatment until September 2023.
However, he said, Zanzibar has a concentrated HIV epidemic, especially among special groups.
He mentioned the groups are those who use drugs for competition 9.3%, men who have sex with their fellow men 11.4% and women who are in the business of selling their bodies 21.1%.
Earlier, the representative of the World Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Morrison Lendem, assured the government that the fund will continue to cooperate with Zanzibar in the fight to eradicate these diseases
