The last 5 years have seen great changes in the fight against AIDS: The pharmaceutical  treatment has reached 12 million people in countries with limited resources, mortality has sharply declined and, in the last years, also the incidence has started to decrease. But how can we close the gap between life expectancy and the health of the people affected by HIV in african countries?

Which strategies should be used so that the tools which we have available, such as the antiretroviral therapy, are fully used and their potential is fully exploited? Furthermore: which therapies should be used in the event of the failure of the second therapeutical line, how to improve the circuit of the precocious diagnosis, how to guarantee patients access to lasting cares? These are the arguments and questions that were raised during the “DREAM a model of HIV/Aids Treatment” training course which opened today in Arusha, Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro which rules from above has saluted the various teams coming from all over Tanzania that have undertaken very long journeys to attend this training week. Many are part of religious congregations operating in health centers of the country, others are health operators of government facilities.

The treatment of AIDS still constitutes a great challenge in Tanzania and requires an articulate and professional response to  guarantee solid and quality treatment systems. DREAM has been present in the country for many years: from 2003 a first collaboration began in Iringa which has then determined the decision to offer that territory, one of the most afflicted by the pandemic, a clinical center for the cure and prevention of AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Since then a network of collaborations was built around that center which was inaugurated by President Kikwete.

In Arusha, in 2008, a new DREAM center was inaugurated including a molecular biology laboratory; a few years ago in the north of the country, in Masanga, a DREAM treatment center

managed by the Congregation of the  Daughters of Charity was opened.

An increasing demand of replication and support of the DREAM program has pushed the organization of a new meeting which brings together health professionals, who wish to further increase their knowledge and to share the experience of these years, with a great desire to learn more and to specialize.

The presence of the RMO of Arusha, doctor Frida Mokiti, wished to underline the participation and the support of the Tanzanian authorities to the DREAM program, towards which there are big expectations and gratitude to what has been achieved. The Provincial superior of the Spiritans, father Amandus, has then expressed the great joy of sharing for years this happy treatment experience with the Community,  hoping that it will continue to grow.

Karibu DREAM, welcome DREAM!