Feature Stories

Bono's Tanzania Tour

May 19, 2006

Under clear blue skies affording views of both snow capped Kilimanjaro and razor sharp Meru, Bono, lead singer for U2, one of the world's best known bands, arrived in Arusha, Tanzania's third largest city to see African development-successes and challenges, up close. Part of a 10 day multi-country trip, Bono was accompanied by colleagues from his development organization, DATA, the director for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and a crew of international journalists. The group visited four sites, including two USAID-supported activities: a health center providing both reproductive and child health and Prevention of Mother to Child (PMTCT) services and an economic development initiative contributing to Tanzania’s fight against malaria.

Pamela White, USAID/Tanzania Mission Director, who traveled alongside Bono’s team on Friday and Saturday, sized up the visit by commenting, “Bono and his organization Data have spent enormous amounts of energy pushing money for HIV/AIDS and malaria on both sides of the Atlantic. The success our programs have achieved in Tanzania will encourage Bono to go back to seek more support. This has been a wonderful, positive experience. I believe his visit to Tanzania may have been the first time the group has actually seen major policy change turned into reality on the ground.”

Serious, focused, reflective and self deprecating, Bono introduced himself to a group of Maasai --who had never heard of him-- as an ‘ageing rock star.’ Insisting that his time be spent with Tanzanians and not expatriate development professionals, Bono, a showman who captivates millions, displayed curiosity, warmth and humor, as he gently but determinedly probed thoughts and ideas from teachers, nurses, businessmen, farmers, mothers, children and women with HIV/AIDS. Explaining how his star-power and wealth is transforming the status quo in Africa, he said transparently and with candor, "We're a group that represents many donors-and we're a funnel of influence."

Bono stepped out of his vehicle at the USAID-supported Ngarenaro Health Center in Arusha municipality in his signature shades and under the watchful gaze of dozens of women dressed in colorful Kangas sitting with their children on simple wooden benches under a corrugated iron sheet roof. Unusual in the breadth of services offered to the more than 200,000 people in its catchment area, Ngarenaro provides one stop shopping (saving time and transport costs, and providing better coverage) for women and their children -"wow, that's incredible," exclaimed Bono. Services include, among others, pregnancy monitoring (also called focused antenatal care), labor, delivery, and, family planning. On average, 100 women visit the clinic every day. Services for children under the age of five are also provided at the clinic. Almost 90 children are seen daily for growth monitoring, immunizations, and treatment of childhood illnesses such as malaria, acute respiratory infection, pneumonia and diarrhea. Bono also learned how USAID, supported by the President's Malaria Initiative and in collaboration with the Global Fund, will soon expand the mainland's bed net voucher program (where nets are provided at subsidized cost to pregnant women) and --new under PMI--to infants.

Setting the Ngarenaro Health Center apart from others in Tanzania is the recent integration, since June 2005, and with support from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) services on the platform of routine Maternal Child Health services. As a result of this integrated approach, holistic and comprehensive services including life saving interventions such as Nevirapine are provided to over 155 newborns exposed to HIV.

At Ngarenaro, 99% of pregnant women are counseled, tested for HIV and receive results using the opt-out approach. During the first eight months of MTCT service provision, 559 of the 8200 pregnant women seen have tested HIV positive. Many are now being referred to the regional hospital for assessment and anti-retroviral therapy. Learning that 26,000 Tanzanians are now on ARVs, up from less than 1,000 in 2004, Bono exclaimed, "We love this--lovely, it's great to see how PEPFAR and Global Fund dollars are working together to bring off services. I'm always interested when something abstract becomes real."

At the Kaloleni Primary School, students dressed smartly in lime and emerald green uniforms welcomed Bono with a song in the leafy courtyard between classrooms. "Real singers!" Bono exclaimed to the joy of the students. Asked to reciprocate, he grinned but nevertheless declined.

Moving indoors, Bono, the school's headmaster and several instructors met to review education in the region. Asking about the impact of debt relief on the school, the teachers explained how low salaries and lack of housing are ongoing challenges that contribute to a shortage of teachers, particularly in rural areas. Bono, brainstorming with his Tanzanian counterparts, wondered if providing houses for teachers would be 'transformative’ a 'one-off payment,' that would have positive impact with little extra cost burden.

Referencing the recent government policy to drop school fees, teachers agreed that enrollment had subsequently increased but insisted that primary completion rates and secondary school attendance levels remained problematic, particularly due to a shortage of primary schools. "It would be very nice for you to be able to see those kids go on," said Bono as teachers nodded emphatically in agreement. Asking about the impact of HlV/AIDS in schools, Bono learned that that fully 180 orphans attend Kaloleni school alone.

Walking outside into the fading sunshine, Bono bounced a USAID branded soccer ball against the concrete walkway and looked pensively towards the ground. Turning towards the student singers, still assembled on the grass, he cocked his head with a smile and launched the soccer ball skyward.

Day two of the tour continued with a visit to Tanzanian-owned A to Z Textile Mills, the only maker of long lasting insecticide treated bed nets in Africa, a key component for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative. Also of importance, A to Z provides jobs to 3,200 Tanzanian women (due to double when an expanded new factory, privately built at the urging of the Global Fund and the U.S. Government, is completed in August.) USAID’s goal of eradicating malaria as a public health issue on the mainland and in Zanzibar will depend on a steady supply of long lasting bed nets—which offer protection for five years against deadly mosquitoes. Under the President’s Malaria Initiative and with support from the Global Fund, all pregnant women in Zanzibar and children under five have already received a long lasting net—some 230,000 Olyset nets—purchased through A to Z, were delivered to the isles from September-December. Soon, long lasting nets from this factory will also be available to mainland Tanzanians. Bono supports this kind of public-private partnership, and was clearly impressed with momentum under way to attack malaria head on in Tanzania.

The last of the visits produced an unexpected curve ball; while driving along a mountain road to visit some Maasai farmers, a truck slid on the muddy roads, blocking Bono and his delegation’s vehicles from passing. Luckily, with quick cell phone calls, back up vehicles were quickly dispatched to meet Bono’s team and deliver them to Sambasha village, home to 5,000 Maasai women, men and children living in a rural hilly area 45 minutes from Arusha town. Lush with the recent rains, the hilltop was surrounded by green crops of various shapes and sizes: maize, bananas, and the crop everyone had come to see—Artemisia.

Discovered thousands of years ago by the ancient Chinese, Artemisia is the newest ‘miracle’ cure for malaria. With support from USAID, Tanzanian farmers today are growing this plant—actually more of an herb—in small plots, selling the harvested plants (for profit) to a private Tanzanian company, which in turn forwards the dry leaves on to Kenya or Uganda for processing. Bono’s response: “So a natural cure for malaria growing first in China and now here in Tanzania? Very Good!”

The USAID supported Artemisia activity, implemented by partner Technoserve, drew praise from Bono, who affirmed, “People want to know whether aid works. Technoserve, working in partnership with local communities, using 21st century technology, has created the raw form of a drug that can save people’s lives. It’s really remarkable.” The same can be said of the famous singer and his dedication to bringing resources to bear on the problems that so many Africans confront each day.