HIV/AIDS Related Knowledge and Sexual Behaviour among Disabled People in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has developed some programmes to control HIV and AIDS. However, disabled people have received little attention in the implementation of such programmes. Therefore, the study from which this paper is based was conducted in early 2010 among 180 disabled respondents in Dar es Salaam, with the specific objectives to: determine the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS knowledge, assess sexual practices that are risky for HIV/AIDS transmission, and determine the correlation between the level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour among the disabled. The analysis was done by using SPSS. The findings indicated that the majority of the disabled (78.9%) had heard about HIV/AIDS; only 12 to 39% of the respondents had correct comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS; 39.4% had common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS transmission; the vast majority of those who were married (96.1%) had risky sexual behaviour in the sense that they had had sexual intercourse with people who were not their spouses after marriage; and there was positive correlation between the number of points scored on an index scale which was used to determine knowledge about HIV/AIDS and those scored on another index scale about sexual behaviour (r = +0.0045), although it was not significant (p = 0.562). Based on these findings, it is concluded that although knowledge about HIV/AIDS is substantial among the disabled, it is not applied to sexual behaviour change, mainly because of poverty which makes them to have sex for some payment. On the basis of this conclusion, it is recommended that inclusive HIV/AIDS programmes for the disabled should facilitate their access to financial services for income generating activities. Keywords: Disabled people, HIV/AIDS related knowledge, sexual behaviou

Civic Education Significantly Associated with Turnout in General Elections in Morogoro Urban Constituency, Tanzania

Elections in Tanzania, like in any other country in the world, has three main functions: first is to create a sentiment of popular consent and participation in public affairs; second is to provide for orderly succession in government by peaceful transfer of authority to new rulers when the time comes for the old rulers to go through elections and third is to elect representatives of the people. However, there is a great proportion of registered voters who do not vote in the elections. This will have negative impact on consolidating democracy and expanding collective decision making through representation, if not taken care of. The underlying causes for this problem are not yet clear. Therefore, the research from which this paper has emanated was conducted in Morogoro urban constituency to analyse the determinants of voting in general elections in Tanzania. Using an index scale, it was found that the overall respondents’ knowledge about elections was low (23 out of 50 points); hence voters’ participation in 2010 general elections was low. Furthermore, the results show that more than one-fifth (22.6%) of all the respondents had spent fifteen minutes to reach the polling stations. Using a chi-square test, the research findings revealed that the relationship between individuals’ levels of civic education and their participation in voting was significant (?2 = 8.648, p = 0.003), which means that those with higher education participated more than those with lower education. It is recommended that such education should be increased through various media in order to increase citizens' participation in voting. Key words:Civic Education, Turnout, Electio

The Contribution of Vulnerable Groups’ Sub-projects under Tanzania Social Action Fund to Income Poverty Reduction in Bahi District, Tanzania

Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) is a programme instituted by the government for reducing income poverty among the poor in Tanzania and has been implementing poverty reduction projects in Bahi District since the heyday of the first phase of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP I, 2005 - 2010). However, there is only slight change in income poverty, reduction especially among vulnerable households in the area. The reasons for this problem were not clear. Thus, the research on which this paper is based was conducted in Bahi District to determine TASAF beneficiaries’ income and impact of monetary values of support from TASAF on beneficiaries’ households’ incomes. It was found that net income for TASAF beneficiaries was TZS[1] 1,140,000 per capita per year and for non-TASAF beneficiaries it was TZS 3,680,000. The incomes were significantly different at p < 0.001, with a t-value = 4.449. The amount of grant received had negative impact on income (ß = -0.025), but which was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). This implies that access to grants by vulnerable groups (VGs) did not help much vulnerable groups' households reduce poverty. The results substantiate a need for the government, through TASAF, to increase the amount of funding grants in favour of TASAF sub-projects so as to enable the vulnerable groups to generate more income for effective poverty reduction. Key words: income poverty, vulnerable groups’ sub-projects, Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) [1] USD 1 = Tanzanian Shillings (TZS) 1,678 in June 201

HIV/AIDS Related Knowledge and Sexual Behaviour among\ud Disabled People in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania has developed some programmes to control HIV and AIDS. However, disabled people have received little attention in the implementation of such programmes. Therefore, the study from which this paper is based was conducted in early 2010 among 180 disabled respondents in Dar es Salaam, with the specific objectives to: determine the level of awareness about HIV/AIDS knowledge, assess sexual practices that are risky for HIV/AIDS transmission, and determine the correlation between the level of knowledge of HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour among the disabled. The analysis was done by using SPSS. The findings indicated that the majority of the disabled (78.9%) had heard about HIV/AIDS; only 12 to 39% of the respondents had correct comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS; 39.4% had common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS transmission; the vast majority of those who were married (96.1%) had risky sexual behaviour in the sense that they had had sexual intercourse with people who were not their spouses after marriage; and there was positive correlation between the number of points scored on an index scale which was used to determine knowledge about HIV/AIDS and those scored on another index scale about sexual behaviour (r = +0.0045), although it was not significant (p = 0.562). Based on these findings, it is concluded that although knowledge about HIV/AIDS is substantial among the disabled, it is not applied to sexual behaviour change, mainly because of poverty which makes them to have sex for some payment. On the basis of this conclusion, it is recommended that inclusive HIV/AIDS programmes for the disabled should facilitate their access to financial services for income generating activities

Policy Concerns, Opportunities, Challenges, and Attitude towards One Health Practice in Zambia

One Health in terms of collaboration, particularly between human and animal health sectors to prevent and control zoonoses has been low while the sectors have a lot of things in common. Such common things include aspects of disease causative agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) and those of disease occurrence mediator conditions (social, cultural, economic or climatic). Therefore, the research from which this paper is based was done with the objectives to: (a) assess the extent to which human and animal health policies facilitate one health in terms of collaboration; (b) rank opportunities for and challenges to collaboration among medical, and veterinary officers according to the views and experiences of the respondents in the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture; and (c) determine the attitude of the respondents towards One Health approaches in terms of collaboration in dealing with zoonoses. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study whereby data were collected at a single point in time without repetition. Purposive sampling method was used to make sure that the respondents were only officials who usually participated in policy formulation in the two Ministries. It was found that almost three quarters (73.1%) of the respondents from both ministries agreed that there was no policy which directly facilitated One Health in terms of collaboration. It was also found that 83.6% of the respondents pointed out that human and animal health policy making process was a top-down process. Furthermore, it was found that the main opportunities that could enhance collaboration were sufficient money in budgeting; advocacy for control of neglected zoonotic diseases in human and animal health; and one health policy formulation (71.3%, 68.2% and 65.5% respectively). The overall attitude towards collaboration among respondents was favourable; they scored an average of 62.2 out of 100.0 points on a Likert scale. It is concluded that if opportunities enhancing collaboration were strengthened and challenges to collaboration were overcome, human health and animal health experts could collaborate more in reduction of disease burden in both humans and livestock. Keywords: One health, policy, attitude, opportunities, challenge