Speeches Shim
Youth are a significant part of the population affected by HIV/AIDS in Tanzania’s Arusha region. Fortunately, some youth have found comfort in teen clubs set up by USAID’s Boresha Afya (Improve Health) activity. These clubs consist of support groups for children aged 10-19 who are living with HIV, and are designed to help HIV-positive adolescents support each other. The clubs address the psychological and clinical needs of adolescents so that they feel confident, stay on treatment, and prevent transmission of the virus to their own future partners or children.
Like many Tanzanian communities, parental engagement in children’s academics and support for their learning at home was very low in Ruvuma regions Msindo Ward. Many primary schools had no storybooks for pupils to read at school or in their homes. As a result, first and second grade pupils’ reading abilities were very poor. Pupils had no interest in reading, and teachers did not trust pupils to take books home and bring them back the next day. Teachers thought if pupils were given books, they would either lose them or damage them.
Inclusion of girls in education helps transform nations, societies, communities and even villages. Educated girls are less likely to be caught in different socioeconomic traps, such as early marriage or an unplanned pregnancy, which have seriously affected many girls in countries like Tanzania.
When USAID's Water Resources Integration Development Initiative (WARIDI) began designing improvements to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities at 25 primary and secondary schools, students from Muungano and Magubike Primary Schools in Tanzania’s Iringa region shared their difficulties accessing the toilets and washing their hands. Challenges included lack of separate facilities for boys and girls, no changing rooms or hygiene facilities to support girls during menstruation, lack of water access, and inaccessible latrines for students with physical disabilities.
Ruth Seleman and Godfrey Bahati, a young couple in Northern Tanzania listen carefully to nurse Damari Kipondya as she counsels them on reproductive health. Although none of the two appear sick, they have every reason to come to the Ngumo Dispensary in Kwimba, Mwanza region. They are expecting a baby as Ruth is five months pregnant. Moreover, she and her husband live in an area with one of the highest malaria infection rates in the country.
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