Voluntary HIV Testing Goes Up and Mortality Levels Go Down in Tanzania

Tanzanian Pastor Tackles HIV Stigma with Education

Situation

Within the Christian community of Tanzania, HIV/AIDS has traditionally been considered to be a punishment for sinners. Few Christian leaders in Tanzania have accepted HIV/AIDS as a medical disease, causing segregation and a challenge for pastors like Paul Lucas Mumba, who are interested in the welfare of their community.

Solutions

Paul completed RGH’s online 7‐Day MPH program and made it his mission to teach HIV awareness. He realized that lack of education about HIV was the main contributing factor in the rapid spread of the disease in his community. He decided to focus his efforts on education and recruited volunteers in his community to help inform others about the Importance of testing. Paul has worked to address the stigma by holding seminars with other pastors, youth leaders and youth at large.

Paul has more than 745 trained pastors and leaders in different positions and 3942 youth (boys and girls) representing 226 Churches in Tanzania. Each pastor trained by Paul teaches HIV awareness to his church members and neighbors. Paul and his volunteers travel to other districts in Tanzania to teach HIV awareness.

Success

Paul’s trained volunteers visited many regions, and as a result in the regions visited, such as Dar es Salaam, Mbeya and Arusha and Kigoma, there was a marked increase in the percentage of people reporting to VCT centers for counseling and testing. Even better – the HIV mortality rate came down.

Due to his success, Paul applied for and received a grant for $9000 from the Mustard Seed Foundation to establish a pilot Dispensary at Bunju “A”. He continues to teach HIV awareness, reaching thousands of people in his community each year.

Snapshot of HIV Mortality Levels

About this Series

RGH’s 7-Day online programs provide participants with dynamic capacity building solutions that empower real country-led development. This series highlights the success of participants as they strive to bring better health and well-being to their communities and countries.