New Gender Initiative in Tanzania

April 2, 2008 -- EngenderHealth is proud to announce the launch of the CHAMPION Project, an innovative five-year initiative in Tanzania to increase men’s involvement in preventing the spread of HIV. With an award of $16 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), EngenderHealth and its partners will take a holistic approach to HIV prevention and address the underlying gender issues that drive HIV transmission.

Because of power imbalances in sexual relationships, women are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. For example, more than half of the 1.4 million people living with HIV in Tanzania are women. To lessen the impact of HIV on women and to improve the health of both women and men, gender-related behavior and roles need to be addressed. The CHAMPION Project aims to reduce men’s high-risk behaviors, promote fidelity and a reduction in the number of sexual partners, eliminate gender-based violence, and increase men’s participation in health services.

“Engaging men as part of the solution is absolutely critical to addressing HIV,” said Ana Langer, M.D., EngenderHealth’s president. “This project draws on successes from our gender programs in other countries and is testament to the fact that this approach works.” The initiative builds on EngenderHealth’s Men As Partners® and HIV programs and involves collaborating with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and diverse local partners, such as the Tanzania Commission for AIDS, the National Muslim Council of Tanzania, and soccer clubs.

CHAMPION will be led by Eric Ramírez-Ferraro, an internationally recognized public health expert with more than 19 years of experience managing reproductive health programs. Ben Ngoye, M.D., a public health professional skilled in community outreach, will be the project’s Director for Communications, Community Mobilization, and Workplace.

EngenderHealth is a leading international reproductive health organization working to improve the quality of health care in the world’s poorest communities. EngenderHealth empowers people to make informed choices about contraception, trains health providers to make motherhood safer, promotes gender equity, enhances the quality of HIV and AIDS services, and advocates for positive policy change. The nonprofit organization works in partnership with governments, institutions, communities, and health care professionals in more than 40 countries around the world. For 65 years, EngenderHealth has reached more than 100 million people to help them realize a better life. 

To learn more about EngenderHealth, please visit www.engenderhealth.org.

For program inquiries, please contact Manisha Mehta at mmehta@engenderhealth.org.