A heated debate and exchange of thoughts raged last Friday when representatives from women Living with HIV and AIDS met with the founders of the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative—UNAIDS and Susan G Komen—discussing on how to best save the colleagues who are HIV and AIDS affected or infected and later on succumb to breast or cervical cancer.
The core of the discussions based on a question posed by Nancy Brinker, Founder and Chair of Global Strategy at Susan G Komen and one of the panelists who asked in her opening remarks: what good is to save a woman from HIV and AIDS only to have her succumb to breast cancer, or to die of the most preventable causes.
Other panelists included Dr Hedia Belhadj—Country Coordinator of UNAIDS, Dr Twalib Ngoma—Executive Director of Ocean Road Cancer Centre (ORCC), Ambassador Mark R. Dybul, former U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Ms Consolata John, Chairperson of Zanzibar Association of People Living with HIV and AIDS (ZAPHA+)
Aimed at giving the voice of women affected and infected by HIV to speak about their experiences in accessing information and services as well as identifying ways to better mitigate the risk of exposure and better access to affordable screening and treatment of cervical and breast cancer the meeting was assured of renewed support from development partners and the government of Tanzania
We have seriously started working on the problem. We are working with both NACOPHA in the mainland and ZAPHA+ in the isles to tackle issues related to stigma and discrimination that are associated to HIV/AIDS and cancer complications among women, stated Dr Belhadj of UNAIDS
According to some unofficial data availed to this blog during the meeting UNAIDS has committed some 100,000US$ for three-year time to address the problem. Other commitments are said to be coming from the USG—3m US$ and some other 1.2m US$ from an institution whose name was not easily availed.
Likewise, three governments—Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana have agreed to team up to mobilize the resources for the same purposes.
In addition, the government of Tanzania through Ocean Road and other key partners has just completed a five-year national cervical cancer strategic plan, according to Dr Ngoma, the head of ORCC. “Everything is ready for the plan to commence".
We are just waiting for the funds. Our concentration on cervical cancer is because this is the very type of cancer that hits hard especially among the women—the most productive group in our society—the first to wake up in the morning and the last to retire, stated Dr Ngoma, vividly touched.
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| Dr Hedia Belhadj of UNAIDS responding to a question from participants |
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| Dr Alberic Kacou, UNDP Resident Rep at the podium |
Aimed at giving the voice of women affected and infected by HIV to speak about their experiences in accessing information and services as well as identifying ways to better mitigate the risk of exposure and better access to affordable screening and treatment of cervical and breast cancer the meeting was assured of renewed support from development partners and the government of Tanzania
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| Dr Twalib Ngoma of ORCC |
According to some unofficial data availed to this blog during the meeting UNAIDS has committed some 100,000US$ for three-year time to address the problem. Other commitments are said to be coming from the USG—3m US$ and some other 1.2m US$ from an institution whose name was not easily availed.
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| Dr Nancy from Susan G.Komen |
In addition, the government of Tanzania through Ocean Road and other key partners has just completed a five-year national cervical cancer strategic plan, according to Dr Ngoma, the head of ORCC. “Everything is ready for the plan to commence".
We are just waiting for the funds. Our concentration on cervical cancer is because this is the very type of cancer that hits hard especially among the women—the most productive group in our society—the first to wake up in the morning and the last to retire, stated Dr Ngoma, vividly touched.
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| Ambassador Dybul |
To Dr Ngoma, the step was like a miracles coming true. To be sincerely, in the past, it has been so difficult to access cancer related funds or supports. We have struggled here and there to secure funds but in vain. The funders’ attention was on Malaria, HIV and TB—this made cancer issues look like as “a no one business”
But now, with this new joint initiatives, the cancer community is slightly seeing the light of the day.
There were a lot of concerns that raised earlier by the participants. For instance, Monica from a Dar es Salaam based group expressed her concerns on how responsible authorities would work out to help rural women in need of cancer-related screening and services.
There was also the issue of giving regular capacities and confidence building to the women affected or infected with HIV, AIDS and cancer on how to better fight stigma and discrimination. This was raised by Ms Consolata John from ZAPHA+
Consolata highlighted other burning issues ahead of her community as poor nutrition and PMCTC challenges.
Vitalis Makayula—chairperson of the NACOPHA sent an alert note among the participants that: Let us not forget men involvement in this initiative. We may experience similar hardships as it happened during our early PMCTC campaigns
The PLHIV participants and breast cancer survivors came from various backgrounds, levels of education, residence, age and economic status. Cervical cancer is caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that causes cancers of the cervix, anus, penis, and oral cavity. It is the most common cancer among women in Tanzania and it is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women in the country.
Because cervical cancer is an opportunistic disease, being HIV positive increases the risk of developing cervical cancer by 4-5 folds.
The joint statement by the event’s organizers described this state of affairs as a serious public health concern because while the national HIV prevalence is 5.1%, women aged 23-24 have an HIV prevalence of 6.6%, which is higher than the national prevalence and double their counterpart men (2.8%)
But now, with this new joint initiatives, the cancer community is slightly seeing the light of the day.
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| Participants |
There was also the issue of giving regular capacities and confidence building to the women affected or infected with HIV, AIDS and cancer on how to better fight stigma and discrimination. This was raised by Ms Consolata John from ZAPHA+
Consolata highlighted other burning issues ahead of her community as poor nutrition and PMCTC challenges.
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| Participants |
The PLHIV participants and breast cancer survivors came from various backgrounds, levels of education, residence, age and economic status. Cervical cancer is caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that causes cancers of the cervix, anus, penis, and oral cavity. It is the most common cancer among women in Tanzania and it is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in women in the country.
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| Meeting in progress |
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| UNAIDS staff |
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| The campaign |
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