Tanzanian Prime Minister Warns Against AIDS

Tanzanian Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye warned Saturday that HIV/AIDS might continue to undermine the country's economy and reverse gains made in reducing poverty if the population does not change its attitude about casual sex. "The statistics show that the most productive age group is the hardest-hit with the pandemic. This means that the country's economy would shrink if the youth continue to die at this alarming rate," Sumaye said at a national ceremony to mark the World AIDS Campaign in the designated capital of Dodoma. Some 70.5 percent of new HIV/AIDS cases are among people ages 25 to 49, he said.

Sumaye said that with adequate nationwide mobilization, the country could soon witness a total reversal of these trends. The government has embarked on a major public education campaign involving religious leaders, youth and government groups, to tackle the problems associated with fear and ignorance of the disease. "We, your leaders, have been quite open with the disease, going for testing and speaking about the dangers involved in having casual sex. Parents should now start to talk to their children about sex," Sumaye told hundreds of students.

Tanzania Commission for AIDS Chair Herman Lupogo earlier said that since the country's first AIDS patient was diagnosed in 1983, the disease has spread with astounding speed. He said close to 120,000 AIDS patients were diagnosed in hospitals in 1999. An estimated 3 million Tanzanians have been infected with HIV, and an average of 400 new infections occur each day, mostly through unprotected sex. Health experts say Tanzania needs $1 billion annually to fight the epidemic -- an amount almost equivalent to the nation's annual revenue collection.

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