Guardian, UK
Saidi Mwema, Inspector General of the Tanzanian Police Force, enters a medical tent and takes a seat. The nurse sat in front of him pulls out a needle and draws blood. Saidi is undertaking an HIV test in one of Africa's worst affected regions- by doing so he encourages another 118 of his rank, followed by some 9500 police offers and their families to undergo a test.
Tanzania's police force is more than twice as likely to have HIV/AIDS than the general population. As a study by Marie Stopes International (MSI), the leading organisation in family planning and reproductive health has revealed, this is likely to be linked to long periods away from their partners, contact with injured victims and the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS which prevents people from getting tested, and dealing with the disease.
Increasingly, development organisations are recognising the link between poor family planning provisions, the spread of HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health. The benefits of using family planning methods, to decrease unwanted pregnancies, are incontestable. Pregnancy-related health risks, infant mortality, the spread of HIV/AIDS to infants, unsafe abortions, teenage and youth pregnancies and the disempowerment of women to control their own bodies- are all directly linked to the lack of access to family planning methods.
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