By Prosper Makene, Geita
Hundreds of people turned up at the 7th Geita International Mineral and Technology Exhibition for free treatment, thanks to ICAP Tanzania and Geita Gold Mining Limited (GGML) who facilitated the tailor -made program.
Provided by ICAP Tanzania through it’s flagship initiative, FIKIA Project, the helpful exercise is meting out diverse health services towards the population at the expo grounds, including testing for HIV, cervical cancer and prostate cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, blood pressure.
Moreover, the program which is offered through a special equipped mobile hospital van, is also working to educate the public attending the crowd- pulling event on how to prevent from contacting the mentioned diseases, together with putting those diagnosed positive to relevant doses.
Speaking with journalists here on Tuesday, Dr Neema Rubaga, the Field Implementation Manager at ICAP expressed that the mission was also to educate the girls to refrain from negative habits that can place them in possibilities to contact HIV.
“We’re also assisting men to undergo circumcision, being one among crucial means to cheat contacting HIV,” she said, added that the exercise was also providing free test for tuberculosis.
Dwelling on specific statistics, Dr Jackson Joston , working with ICAP in Geita region, detailed a total of 277 people have so far turned out to test for HIV, saying out of which three diagnosed to HIV positive, and have directly been connected to care and treatment, including starting the ARVs dose.
“The other 37 have been detected with blood pressure,” he said.
Giving insight information over the project, he went on to say that ICAP through supports from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) was working to provide services in the health centers and into various local communities, especially those dwelling in remote areas through a special mobile hospital vans.
ICAP’s PEPFAR‐CDC supported FIKIA Project project works to bringing HIV services to key populations and their communities in Tanzania, among others.
