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Tanzania's First Lady Visits School, Pledges Greater Collaboration to Expand Access to PMTCT Services
From left: Amy Cunningham, Mama Kikwete, Wafaa El-Sadr
On September 14, the United Republic of Tanzania's First Lady, Mama Salma Kikwete, visited the Mailman School to meet with leadership from the School's International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) to discuss the expansion of access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV programs in Tanzania.
The First Lady is chairperson of Wanawake na Maendeleo (Women in Development Foundation), a non-governmental health education organization, which is leading a national campaign to promote HIV testing, and PMTCT services for pregnant women. For its part, ICAP has been working with the Tanzania Ministry of Health to strengthen PMTCT services in four regions of the country. Currently, ICAP supports 37 PMTCT sites, which have provided HIV testing to more than 28,000 women. By next year, ICAP plans to expand its support for PMTCT services to 60 sites in Tanzania.
Said Amy Cunningham, Tanzania ICAP country director, "Mama Kikwate has been an inspiring force in Tanzania. Her efforts to use education as a major weapon against HIV/AIDS and to improve maternal health have been very successful."
As part of Mama Kikwete's visit to the Mailman School, Her Excellency participated in a panel entitled, "Responding to the Health Needs of Women and Children in Resource-Limited Settings." Her talk emphasized the power of education to improve the lives of women and children and her hope of creating a stronger alliance with ICAP and other Mailman School initiatives in Tanzania. "If we agree to work together," said Mama Kikwete, "I am confident that your PMTCT campaign will be bolstered since we have strength in advocacy. After all, there are no achievements without partnerships."
After speaking, Mama Kikwete joined her entourage, which consisted of several Tanzanian female dignitaries, in the audience to hear presentations by the other panelists and speakers, including: Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, professor of clinical Medicine and Epidemiology and director of ICAP; Elaine Abrams, MD, professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology and director of MTCT-Plus Initiative; and, Lynn Freedman, JD, professor of clinical Population and Family Health and director of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD). Comments by the Honorable Sophia Simba, minister for Community Development, Gender and Children, Tanzania, rounded out the program.
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