HIV/AIDS The SPS Program’s objectives related to HIV/AIDS activities in Tanzania are to—
- Link accredited drug dispensing outlets (ADDOs) to community-based HIV/AIDS palliative care services
- Strengthen commodity management systems to support antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs
Since 2006, the
RPM Plus Program has been working with the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) to scale-up the ADDO initiative, which was launched under MSH’s
Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines Program. ADDOs are private sector sources of quality pharmaceutical products and services located outside of urban areas, where registered pharmacies are scarce. SPS has been working with Tanzania’s National AIDS Control Programme and Family Health International to use ADDOs as a source of HIV/AIDS-related services. ADDOs will provide a platform for increasing access to HIV/AIDS preventive products, offering home-based palliative care kits, and serving as a source of treatment and prevention information to the community. In addition, SPS is building on the lessons learned from activities under the RPM Plus Program partners to strengthen pharmaceutical management in health care facilities that offer ART and other HIV/AIDS services.
Malaria The SPS Program objectives in malaria include—
- Increasing access to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) by helping implement the rollout of subsidized ACT distribution through the ADDO program
- Working with the TFDA to establish pharmacovigilance systems, including monitoring adverse drug reactions related to ACTs
In response to antimicrobial resistance in previously used malaria medicines, Tanzania is implementing ACTs as its first-line treatment with support from different funders, including the
President’s Malaria Initiative and the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In March 2006, the President’s Malaria Initiative asked the RPM Plus Program to support malaria-related activities in Tanzania. Now, SPS continues to advocate for appropriate policies, regulations, and quality assurance and pharmacovigilance systems that help improve medicine access and reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. In addition, SPS is leveraging resources with MSH’s
East African Drug Sellers Initiative to implement the ADDO program rollout nationwide, which will increase access to effective ACTs, especially in Tanzania’s rural areas.
