| Overview : The Government of Tanzania (GoT) has made great strides in scaling up of HIV interventions (prevention, care, and treatment) which reflects the consistent reduction of HIV prevalence over the past 20 years. Given the disproportionately high burden of HIV among the Key and Vulnerable Populations (KVP), a significant share of the investment goes to combination prevention interventions targeting these highly marginalized populations. Due to prevailing country laws, culture, norms and traditions, these groups are criminalized and experience stigma and discrimination which affects their access to HIV services. In realization of this, with support from UNAIDS (also with complementary support from other multilateral and bilateral development agencies), the government (under the leadership of TACAIDS and in close coordination with NACP) has been implementing activities that are geared towards creating an enabling environment for KVP programming, including those that are centered on changing policies, guidelines, and service delivery standards. As a result of these efforts, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Act (HAPCA) No. 28 of 4 April 2008 was amended in the year 2019; age of consent for testing was lowered down to 15 years of age, and also HIV self-testing was included as part and parcel of standard care. However, several structural barriers still remain. This phenomenon could partially explain why Tanzania did not achieve the global targets to reduce new HIV infections by 75% by the end of the year 2020. The Global Prevention Coalition Report (2020) indicates that, from 2010 – 2019, the country-wide HIV response efforts have been able to drop new HIV infections by only 13% compared to the national goal – as per the 4th National Multisectoral Framework (NMSV IV) which set an ambitious target to reduce new HIV infections by 85% by the end of year 2023. This calls for concerted efforts by the GoT to continuously assess the current prevention landscape and further institute policy changes at various levels to facilitate the smooth implementation of impactful interventions.………………..Etc………….Etc…………… |
