Tanzania Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa commended the Walter Reed Program-Tanzania (WRP-T) medication-assisted treatment (MAT) initiative to help people who use or inject drugs. The MAT program follows harm reduction strategies, providing clients with medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies while also fighting HIV, TB and hepatitis B and C.
Majaliwa made his remarks when he visited the WRP-T exhibition booth during an early July event commemorating International Day Against Drug Abuse. "We are living with [people who use or inject drugs] in our communities, but we are not supporting them effectively,” he said. “Many have not started the medication because they services are not available in their surroundings. This is a serious challenge."
WRP-T is a collaboration between the U.S. Military HIV Research program at the Walter Reed Army of Research and HJFMRI to implement services funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The organization has been working in Mbeya and Songwe since 2017 to provide MAT in those regions.
The program has enrolled 530 clients in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands, where WRP-T helped establish two drop-in centers for MAT clients where they can receive counseling on drug use and risk reduction practices, alongside HIV and hepatitis prevention.
WRP-T implements PEPFAR HIV care and treatment interventions in close collaboration with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health (MoH) and the President’s Office of the Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), and DCEA for Harm Reduction Program for people who use or inject drugs in the country through the Regional and Council Health Management Teams in Rukwa, Katavi, Mbeya, and Songwe, and Ruvuma for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC).
Written by Owen Mwandumbya, Walter Reed Program-Tanzania