Poverty fueling spread of AIDS in the Iringa Region of Tanzania

A report made on the recent World AIDS Day shows the spread of AIDS in a region of Tanzania. Municipal Director Teresia Mmbando of Tanzania explained why AIDS is more prevalent in the Iringa region than any other in the country.

Friday Simbaya of the IPP Media recieved the Directors comments.

``Iringa Region has a 14.7 per cent HIV prevalence rate, the highest, followed by Mbeya and Dar es Salaam regions,`` she said..

She said poverty caused young girls and women to engage in casual sex.

``Poverty has direct and indirect consequences on the increase of HIV/Aids infections among girls and women,`` Mmbando said.

Other factors included inheriting widows, unprotected sex and alcohol abuse.

The director said a total of 26,317 people went for voluntary counselling and testing between January and November, this year,10,565 of whom were male and 15,752 female

``Out of the total, 3,775 tested HIV-positive, equivalent to 14.3 per cent,`` she said.