Tanzania

Fact Sheets

Tanzania (pdf)
MHRP Africa Programs (pdf)

25% of all Tanzanians on antiretroviral treatment are supported by MHRP

HIV Vaccine Research

Research activities, supported by funds from both the Army and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), involve basic and clinical research to develop a globally effective HIV vaccine.

Activities include:

Vaccine Phase I/II trials
Pandemic influenza
Cohort development
Malaria studies
TB and HIV co-infection

Over the years these research activities expanded to partnerships with Muhimbili University and the Karolinska Institute.

PEPFAR Program

Military-Military

MHRP works directly with the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces to help ensure that all men and women who serve in the Tanzanian army remain HIV-negative throughout their military career. This comprehensive program serves 35,000 servicemen and women, as well as their dependants and civilians living near post/barracks.

Civilian

The civilian PEPFAR program is centered in the Southern Highlands, where MHRP has conducted research since 1999. Recently, MHRP helped build a center of excellence (COE) for infectious disease in Mbeya. It was opened by the U.S. Ambassador and dedicated by Tanzanian President Kikwete.

The COE serves the HIV positive population of Mbeya and the surrounding areas, providing quality care in a state of the art clinic. A system of linkages with local NGOs allows patients to receive support at the community level with services ranging from home based care and nutrition assistance to participation in HIV clubs where connections can be made with other HIV-positive people in the community. The NGOs, in turn, refer those HIV-positive individuals who have utilized voluntary counseling and testing services in the community to the COE for care and treatment. This system of linkages and referrals has increased the patient population at the CTC to approximately 10,000 HIV positive individuals.

Walter Reed Program - Tanzania

Known locally as the Walter Reed Program–Tanzania, our program is part of a global effort to advance research for an HIV vaccine in Tanzania.

WRP-T works in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to advance HIV research, prevention and care in Tanzania. Research is conducted in partnership with the Mbeya Medical Research Programme (MMRP), a National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) collaborating center.

Government Partnerships

MHRP has strong relationship with the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF), who recently requested additional support for medical research and disease control. This led to the establishment of pandemic influenza surveillance activities with TPDF, with funding from the DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS). This program will be expanded to include malaria surveillance in 2010. These collaborative medical research opportunities have led to several high-level meetings between the U.S. and Tanzanian officials, including a recent visit by President Kikwete to the WRAIR (shown above with Commander COL Kent Kester).

The center of excellence for infectious disease in Mbeya

Tanzanian Navy Commander Brigadier General Saidi S. Omari greeting Edward Sekonde, Country Director of the WRP-T, at the opening of a new HIV care and treatment clinic

Prevention, Care & Treatment

MHRP has enhanced local capacity to support care and treatment efforts through the President’s Emergency Fund of AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The integration of PEPFAR programs with research sites has created vibrant synergy that enhances clinical research and improves the public health infrastructure in Africa. These services also ensure an ethical, non-coercive environment to conduct clinical research.

Scaling up HIV PEPFAR Services

MHRP began supporting PEPFAR-funded activities for the community in Mbeya in 2004, and expanded to include military populations in Tanzania in 2004. The program has developed robust in-country relationships with CDC, USAID, Peace Corps, and has built powerful partnership with host country civil society, government, academia, and Non-Government Organizations.

47,393	80,000	175,000	43,000
Patients who ever received ART	Clients who received basic care and support	Pregnant women who received counseling and testing	Children helped through the OVC program

HIV services for people living in the rural areas of Tanzania have always been hampered by the need to travel long distances to health facilities. MHRP and PEPFAR have helped to address this challenge by developing infrastructure and capacity to provide effective prevention, care and treatment services, including:

HIV/AIDS prevention
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission
Counseling and testing
Care and treatment
TB/HIV treatment
Community support and policy development

MHRP

MHRP is centered at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Rockville, MD and encompasses fours sites in Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria; and one site in Thailand. The three East Africa sites have CAP-certified laboratories and MHRP is currently developing a research infrastructure in Nigeria.

MHRP works closely with other military medical researchers, leveraging its capabilities to monitor and study other infectious disease threats including malaria, influenza and hemorrhagic fevers.

MHRP Supports African Communities:

Establish HIV clinical sites
Improve lab services and infrastructure
Enhance data collection
Develop human capacity
Create youth focused programs and services for orphans/ vulnerable children
Provide counseling, testing, and prevention programs

HIV Diagnostics and Reference Laboratory