NEW SCIENTIST (April 21) described how a farmer in Zanzibar, had a severe shock four years ago when he went to harvest his cassava (manioc). “The bushes looked healthy” he said, but when he dug up the tubers he found every last one had rotted away. “I had lost my entire crop. And we were hungry and I was desperate”.

What he didn’t know then was that his crop was the first known victim of a plague caused by a new and virulent strain of the ‘cassava brown streak virus’ that is now spreading across eastern and central Africa. Other pests and viruses that afflict cassava – notably the ‘cassava mosaic virus’, which has been advancing across East Africa since the late 1980s, leave visible marks on the foliage but always spare some of the crop.

Brown streak is a stealth virus. It has been known since 1935 when British scientists reported it in coastal Tanganyika but, until recently, it remained largely confined to Tanzania’s low-lying coastal plains. Now it has become much more virulent – apparently starting from this farm in Zanzibar. It is a threat to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Institute for Tropical Agriculture’s branch in Dar es Salaam, cassava yield in Tanzania has fallen by between 50 and 80 per cent and during the past five years. The economic damage to farmers is conservatively estimated at more than $50 million a year.

The institute has cross-bred some of the local varieties in Zanzibar with other varieties that seem to tolerate the new virus. The first trials have been successful and some of the new varieties have now been released to farmers in Zanzibar so moving from trials to a fully operational project. Farmers in Zanzibar are clamouring for the new varieties especially a variety called Kiroba which is a favourite because of its sweet taste and smooth texture.
Thank you John Rollinson for sending this news – Editor

The UN has begun to advocate mass male circumcision in HIV/Aids stricken Southern African nations. Several recent medical studies have confirmed that circumcision cuts the risk of HIV infection among men by 50-60 per cent, and the findings have been backed by UNAIDS.

However, in Tanzania, the Government remained cautious. “We cannot rush into this idea. We want to conduct a thorough study on the suggestions and get clear evidence before incorporating the idea in our HIV/Aids policy framework” said Health and Social Welfare Minister, Prof. David Mwakyusa. He admitted that the prevalence rate in certain coast and central areas in Tanzania was low due to male circumcision. “I am talking to experts who are meeting in Arusha. I hope they will come up with sound suggestions and advise the government accordingly” – Guardian.

The government has assured the public that, Rift Valley Fever, which had been widespread for more than five months, is now under total control.

Yesterday a lorry carrying eighty-odd people to a football match overturned. Three were killed and a fair number were brought here. Wadi Moja (Ward One); which already has its fair share of problems, resembled a battlefield. There were sixty-odd patients, four nurses, me and one clean sheet. Hamna shida. This is Africa.

Waiting patiently in the corridor for admission were ten men, most of whom were bleeding from somewhere. All the usual chores – operation cases etc., plus relatives milling around, did not alter the admitting nurse’s usual polite greetings in any way. Each individual was greeted in the same manner -just as they would have been if there had been only one of them and the whole afternoon stretching ahead. “Habari za leo? “Nzuri.” Habari za Nyumbani? ” “Salama “. Even – honestly -“Habari za afya?” “Nzuri kidogo”. “Nzuri kidogo?” Now this answer is from a man with blood pouring from his chin and his leg in plaster from toe to groin! Each of the ten men got the same treatment. No hurry or panic on wadi moja.

After all had been admitted, some two to a bed, some on the floor of the corridor, and the afternoon shift had been given the report, the now off-duty nurses tied on their kangas and wandered off home. After all, one day is much like any other on wadi moja.
Jean Cooper

Glossary: Hamna shida -No problem. Habari za leo? -How are things? Habari za Nyumbani? -How are things at home? Habari za afya? -How are you feeling? Or how is your health? Nzuri -Good. Kidogo -small or a little.

(Jean Cooper, author of the above article is a VS0 volunteer working at Nyangao in Mtwara Region. VSO’s programme in Tanzania opened in 1961 and today around 110 volunteers are working in the country. Fourteen new volunteers will be going there in June followed by another 30 in September. Volunteers are involved in education, technical training, community development and agriculture as well as health. As a charity, VS0 is fortunate in receiving a large grant from the British Government. However, it still needs to raise over £4 million this year. One of the most enjoyable and rewarding ways of supporting VS0 is through sponsoring a volunteer. VS0 has various schemes, For example, if you contribute £15 per month you can share sponsorship of a volunteer, choose the region where your volunteer works and expect about two letters a year from the volunteer. Another scheme costs £300 per year but if you contribute £1,000 per year you will be able to choose a specific volunteer according to his/her skill, meet the volunteer (if possible), and receive letters, reports and photographs. Details from Anne Harrison or June Quayle, on 0181 780 7200 or write to them at VSO, 317 Putney Bridge Road, London SW13 2PN e-Mail XXX Editor)

It is hardly possible to pick up a copy of Tanzania’s two main English language newspapers these days without seeing some reference to the AIDS scourge which is causing such serious concern. During the last three months of 1989 there were more than thirty different articles or news items on the subject in the press.

The saddest of all the stories was in the Daily News of October 7th and was written by Joseph Kitharoa from Bukoba in Kagera region, It concerned thousands of children who have become orphans and elderly dependents with no family members left to support them because of AIDS. A recent survey found 6,000 orphans who were being helped by the Tanzanian and Danish Red Cross organisations with donations of clothes and blankets.

The CCM Party in Kagera Region has instructed rural districts to immediately introduce bye-laws prohibiting people from attending night drinking parties and to close pombe (beer) shops and disco halls by 6 pm each evening. In Mara Region the party has called upon those performing circumcision ceremonies to suspend them until all have received instruction in hygiene.

Minister of Health Dr Aaron Chidu8 told an inaugural meeting of the newly established National Aids Control Committee that many more people will perish if control measures are not taken by 20 to 40 year olds following the daily increases in AIDS cases.

The Bagamoyo College of Arts cultural troupe has taken a play called ‘Ukimwi’ round many of the worst affected regions. Actor Nkwabi Ng’hangasamala, playing the part of AIDS in the play, and wearing a mask and vividly decorated shirt cries out “Watch out …. I am AIDS and I will shortly demonstrate how I torture end eventually kill those who cross my path”.

During a five-day media seminar on AIDS in Morogoro the participating journalists carried out a survey among Morogoro’s prostitutes. Some said that they refused to have sex with their clients unless condoms were used, They said that they were particularly wary of young people, especially those in a hurry. Those who were fat and old however were allowed sex without condoms. Specialists at the seminar estimated that there were now some 4,000 cases of AIDS in Tanzania and 500,000 people infected with the HIV virus.

In Zanzibar a Member of the House of Assembly suggested total isolation of AIDS victims but the Deputy Health Minister explained that this would be counter-productive and that the identities of Victims would not be revealed to the public.

Liheta Festo, a reader of the Daily News, put it very simply in a two-paragraph letter. ‘If you marry a virgin of the opposite sex and remain faithful, your chances of getting AIDS are about the same as getting struck by a meteor in the swimming pool’! – Editor

The first reported case of AIDS in Tanzania (from Kagera Region) was as recently as 1983. But, according to a Professor in the University of Dar es Salaam, there are now estimated to be 400,000 people infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which can lead to AIDS.

The male to female ratio is approximately 1:1 reflecting the dominance in Tanzania of heterosexual transmission: Distribution by age shows peak prevalence for women in the age groups 15 to 25 whereas the majority of infected males are in the age group 25 to 35.

The spread of HIV follows the major communication routes with dramatic differences in the geographical distribution. In the Kagera Region with 1.3 million inhabitants some 11.9% of the adults were HIV positive in 1987. The rate was as high as 32% in Bukoba town. The extent of the catastrophe in the town is illustrated by the fact that in the age groups 25-34, some 41% were affected and in babies below one year in age 23% were HIV positive. (An account of what was described as the ‘AIDS Horror’ at Kanyiga village, 25 miles from Bukoba, was given in Bulletin No 31).

In Moshi the average infection rate was 7% in 1987 but no positive cases were detected outside the city. The figure for Dar es Salaam was about 6%

The true prevalence and the speed of dissemination in most of the country is not known but one source estimated that the affected population is now doubling every six to eight months. According to the World Health Organisation, for every reported case, there are in the population 50-100 infected cases. According to some health experts there could be as many as one to two million people affected by the end of this year. Most of these people will be subject to emotional stress and a larger number of relatives and friends will also need assistance in dealing with the disease . “We are talking about anywhere between five and ten million people needing counselling if testing instruments were available for all” said Dr. G. P. Kilonzo, Head of the Psychiatric Unit at Muhimbili Medical Centre. He said that the emotional reaction of individuals to HIV infection and the neurological and psychiatric consequences of the disease can have a far reaching impact unless emotional support is given. Cases of suicide, stigma, anger, depression and family turmoil are issues that need to be dealt with through counselling he said.

Dr Gabriel Lwihula is worried about the orphan problem and how Tanzania will be able to cope with the orphan children and the aged whose survival must depend on support from persons dying of AIDS. A National Aids Task Force was set up in 1985 and this led the way to the National AIDS Control Programme which the government launched in mid 1988. Emphasis is being placed on bringing about behavioural change. Most people are said to now prefer what is known as ‘Zero grazing’ in reference to sticking to a single partner. Many jokingly refer to what are called ‘UWT (the Tanzanian Womens’ Organisation) marriages’. Others refer to Chinua Achebe’s novel ‘One man; one wife’.

At a seminar in Arusha in July 1989 Dr W.M. Nkya of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre said that transmission of AIDS was complicated by the existence of ‘infected pools of people and mobile transmitters’. He explained that prostitutes and barmaids were likely to be in the infected pool while young business men, truck drivers and privileged civil servants were likely to be among the transmitters.

At the same seminar the Tanga Regional Cultural Officer, Mr V. Mkodo said that a number of men were opting for schoolgirls to ‘quench their sexual thirst ‘as they were considered to be safe from the disease. It was also suggested at the seminar that it would be a great help if the government issued a directive on circumcision of men as uncircumcised men were thought to be at greater risk.

On Peasants Day in July this year the Association of Tanzania Family Planning had what was described as a ‘field day’ when it sold 11,000 condoms to visitors to the 13th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair. Condoms, at Shs 5/- each, were said to have been selling like hot cakes as preventive measures against AIDS. (From SHIHATA, the Daily News and the book reviewed on page 31).

In an emotive article in the Sunday News Sylvester Hanga has reported on a visit to a village 25 kilometres north of Bukoba.
“When artillery bombs from Idi Amin’s forces did not inflict heavy casualties in Kanyigo many of its inhabitants ruled out the possibility of another horror in the near future. They were proved wrong seven years later …. some believe that it was at this place that AIDS mushroomed to the rest of the country.

Houses have been abandoned and some vandalised by departing suspects. The majority of the 10 cell leaders have been left with less than half the number of households they are expected to head. The reason is simple; some have died of AIDS and the rest have taken refuge in neighbouring villages.

Although no survey has been officially carried out to establish the exact number of deaths … a random count of houses with no life inside tells the remaining part of the horror.

Some of the children are seriously malnourished. Some have no parents as they have long been hastily buried …in 1985 people used to turn up in dozens to give the deceased their last respects; not now … some say ‘How could we bury two people from the same roof in the span of one day?’ It has never happened before, at least, not in Kanyigo; not even during the war with Amin’

This is the AIDS era and Kanyigo is witnessing it more than any other part of Kagera region.

Meanwhile in Dar es Salaam Second Vice-President Wakil has launched a five year National AIDS Control Programme and the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Chidua, has been giving AIDS casualty figures from other parts of the country. Singida 18, Musoma 18, Arusha 12 since last year; Kagera region 289 in 1986 alone. The Minister said that he believed that only between 10 and 13% of AIDS patients in Tanzania have reported to hospital.

Tanzania has reported over 800 cases of HIV-AIDS; half have resulted in death since 1983, and local medical experts believe that the disease was introduced to East Africa by foreign servicemen. Prostitutes in East African ports contracted the disease from the troops and then trailer drivers transporting land-looked Burundi’s imports introduced it to Tanzania. The disease was first reported at Lukuyu village in Kagera region close to Uganda which is a major stop on the trailer route. The first victims were women wearing T-shirts labelled ‘Juliana’, obtained from trailer drivers. When the disease was first detected local people referred to it as ‘Juliana’ because its victims were wearers of Juliana T-shirts – Daily News.

– AND THE GOVERNMENT TAKES ACTION
The Government has launched an aggressive five year campaign to halt what the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Aaron Chidua has described as the ‘alarming spread’ of the disease. AIDS is now threatening all twenty regions of the country.

At a recent two day AIDS donor meeting in Dar es Salaam, 14 donor agencies undertook to support the Government’s efforts by contributing Shs 270 million out of the first year’s estimated costs of Shs 800 million. The Aid Control Programme (ACP) will include research, training, clinical improvements, systematic screening of blood exchange and a Campaign to educate the people. The ACP has been acclaimed by the World Health Organisation.

A count by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare ending June 28 this year showed that 1,256 Tanzanians have developed cases of AIDS since 1983 of whom 426 have died in hospitals. Tanzania’s rate of infection among pregnant women in Dar es Salaam is 3.6% in Arusha 0.7% in Mbeya 6% and in Kagera region 16%. – Shihata.