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HIV/Aids intervention scores success in Immigration Department
2008-08-05 09:48:40
By Correspondent Nasser Kigwangallah
The HIV/Aids workplace intervention which is being implemented by the Immigration Department has shown considerable progress by targeting all employees in the department.
Salome Kahamba, coordinator of the HIV/Aids initiative in the department, told `The Guardian` in an interview in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that the aim of the project was to enhance awareness on the HIV/Aids pandemic in the world of work within the framework of decent work.
She said she was getting all necessary cooperation from employees to enable the project to reach all the 2,000 workers in the country through training, seminars and personal contacts.
She said almost all the employees knew their HIV/Aids status as most of them had undergone screening.
``HIV/Aids, like any other serious disease, is affecting the socio-economic situation of enterprises and the workforce as it depletes skilled and experienced workers and reduces the supply of labour and causes an increase in medical costs,`` Kahamba said.
According to her, if not adequately tackled, the epidemic could continue depleting the workforce, thus increasing the number of orphans and being a burden in terms of treatment and care costs.
She said the Immigration Department, like any other government institution, was in the forefront in ensuring that employees were aware of the disease and knew how to avoid being infected.
Kahamba said since 2002, they decided to tackle the disease through advocacy, adding that their primary goal was to urge workers to go for self-restraint and avoid unsafe sex so that they and their families could remain safe.
``Among activities which have been implemented by the focal point are awareness seminars conducted to principal officers, regional immigration officers and workers at the department`s head office in Dar es Salaam so that they can join in the war against the pandemic,`` she said.
She added that the HIV/Aids workplace intervention had so far trained 70 peers from each region in all entry points in the country, including Zanzibar, and the peers were doing a tremendous job in ensuring that the HIV/Aids message reached every employee.
She said apart from awareness campaigns, the department was also rendering humanitarian services to workers found to have been affected with HIV/Aids by counseling them and giving them food and care as a way of reducing stigma and showing love to them.
Kahamba said her department was facing a number of challenges in the smooth running of its programme, citing transport to reach HIV/Aids patients as an impediment in the operation.
She admitted that some HIV/Aids patients were not ready to come forward and declare their HIV/Aids status, saying this was making their job of helping them more difficult.
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