Availability of HIV/AIDS community intervention programmes and quality of services in and around selected mining sites in Tanzania
Background: Mining is one of the major sectors of the country's economy as it employs and attracts a large number of people from different areas. As a result, communities in and around mining sites are at great risk of HIV transmission. While a few unsynchronized mine-specific population-based...
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| Published in: | Tanzania journal of health research Vol. 17; no. 2 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Health User's Trust Fund (HRUTF)
29-06-2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Background: Mining is one of the major sectors of the country's
economy as it employs and attracts a large number of people from
different areas. As a result, communities in and around mining sites
are at great risk of HIV transmission. While a few unsynchronized
mine-specific population-based studies provide evidence of a growing
HIV problem in this sector, virtually few evidence exists on
availability and quality of interventions targeting HIV and AIDS in
this population. The study was conducted to assess the availability and
quality of HIV/AIDS intervention programmes in and around mining sites
in Tanzania. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted from
November 2012 to April 2013. Both quantitative and qualitative methods
were used to collect data. Study areas involved both mining sites and
its surrounding communities in Kahama, Nzega and Geita Districts. It
involved household members from villages in and around the mining
sites, mining community relations officers, community health facility
workers, district HIV/AIDS focal persons and village leaders. Results:
A total of 463 individuals were recruited into the study for household
interviews. In-depth interviews with Key Informants involved 15
respondents. HIV/AIDS intervention programmes in the study area were
available despite that knowledge of their existence was limited to a
segment of the community. Their availability was only known to about
25% of the study respondents in Geita and Kahama study sites. The
programmes carried out intervention activities which included HIV/AIDS
education campaigns, promoting uptake of voluntary counselling and
testing services, promoting and supporting condom use, safer sex, and
male circumcision. HIV/AIDS services such as screening, distribution of
condoms and ARVs for infected people were available and were offered
free of charge. Conclusion: Our findings show that HIV/AIDS
intervention programmes were available despite that they were unequally
distributed. Although their availability has contributed to the
decrease of HIV prevalence in the community, knowledge of their
availability was limited to some people in the community. |
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| ISSN: | 1821-6404 |
| DOI: | 10.4314/thrb.v17i2.1 |