Commission warns of bogus AIDS NGOs

By Mustafa Leu

The Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TanCAIDS) has warned HIV/AIDS victims to abstain from the tendency of segregating themselves by forming groups and organisations of people living with the virus.

The National Chairman of (TanCAIDS), Retired Major General Hermanus Cornelius Lupogo said during a capacity building workshop in Arusha last week that the segregation tendency is a negative approach to the problem.

Major General Lupogo said that there are a number of briefcase non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which collect money from the government or donor agencies claiming to be at the frontline in fighting the disease and taking care of the infected people but actually they are satisfying their own ends. The Chairman directed that such NGOs should be deregistered.

Earlier the national Chairman of the Tanzania Network of Organisations of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TANOPHA), Mr. Julius Kaaya told aids victims that being HIV positive does not warrant one to be a beggar, but helping the victims with essential items including food and medicine is necessary.

Mr. Kaaya, also a member of the commission advised that it is necessary for counselors to pursue appropriate training to enable them educate the public in the fight against the disease. He said that the people living with HIV/AIDS have to equip themselves with essential knowledge and skills in counseling.

Last modified: August 29, 2003.
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