Tanzania: Over 50 Percent of Inpatients Infected with HIV/AIDS -- President

At least 200 babies delivered every month in Tanzania are infected with HIV, President Benjamin Mkapa has revealed. Opening a two-day workshop on HIV/AIDS control for religious leaders at the White Sands Hotel on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam yesterday, Mkapa noted the state of HIV/AIDS in the country was more serious than many people thought. Tanzania has recorded more than 1.1 million orphaned children to date who have lost their parents through HIV/AIDS, Mkapa said, and about 300,000 of the orphans have themselves died of the disease.

Mkapa said that more than 50 percent of inpatients currently in hospital beds in the country's towns are infected with HIV. "We must refrain from depending too much on available statistics regarding the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Tanzanians must understand the profoundly terrible effects of HIV's infections," the president said. Mkapa also called on religious leaders in Tanzania to educate, advise and sensitize their devotees about the fight against HIV. "The government has a duty of enlightening every citizen on how one can be infected with HIV and precautionary measures to avoid infections. But, eventually, it is an individual duty and responsibility to decide either to protect or to destroy himself or herself," the president said.

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