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Close Window Tanzania’s Chief of Defense Forces, General Davis A. Mwamunyange, and the American Representative Edward Sekonde congratulating each other after inaugurating, an HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Mbalizi TPDF Hospital in Mbeya.
Tanzania’s Chief of Defense Forces, General Davis A. Mwamunyange, and the American Representative Edward Sekonde congratulating each other after inaugurating, an HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Mbalizi TPDF Hospital in Mbeya.
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Tanzania’s Chief of Defense Forces, General Davis A. Mwamunyange, and the American Representative Edward Sekonde congratulating each other after inaugurating, an HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Mbalizi TPDF Hospital in Mbeya.
Tanzania’s Chief of Defense Forces, General Davis A. Mwamunyange, and the American Representative Edward Sekonde congratulating each other after inaugurating, an HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Mbalizi TPDF Hospital in Mbeya.

United States Partners with Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF) to Open HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing Center in Mbeya

August 13, 2009

Mbalizi, Mbeya Region: The American people have partnered with the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces to open an HIV Counseling and Testing Center at the Mbalizi TPDF Hospital in Mbeya. Tanzania’s Chief of Defense Forces, General Davis A. Mwamunyange, was joined by American Representative Edward Sekonde for the inauguration. The partners opened the Counseling and Testing Center after carrying out renovations with funding from the American people and TPDF. Mbalizi Center is one of several military health centers around the country that the United States has assisted the TPDF to renovate.

The U.S. support, provided through the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the U.S. Department of Defense have assisted the TPDF to renovate and support several military health centers around the country, with technical assistance provided by Pharmaccess International. American support for the TPDF focused on HIV/AIDS includes HIV/AIDS prevention, Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission, counseling and testing, care and treatment, enhanced laboratory infrastructure, TB/HIV treatment, community support and policy development. This comprehensive approach serves 35,000 Tanzanian servicemen and women, as well as thousands of civilians living near military facilities.

Sekonde, the Tanzania Country Director for Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam noted, “The American-Tanzanian partnership plays a major role in improving this nation's health care system, benefiting both military and civilian populations in Tanzania.”

The United States of America is a global leader in combating HIV/AIDS worldwide through PEPFAR, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. This 10-year, $48 billion program, is the largest initiative in history to combat a single disease. Since its inception in 2003, the American people have provided over $817 million to combat HIV/AIDS throughout Tanzania. The United States will continue to work closely with the United Republic of Tanzania to strengthen the health of this nation and fulfill President Kikwete’s vision of a “Tanzania free of HIV.”

For more information about this media opportunity, please contact Halima Mbaruku in the Press Office at the American Embassy at 266-8001, ext. 4196.