Women Drive HIV Response through Leadership, Advocacy

A stronger shift toward women-led leadership is increasingly shaping Tanzania’s HIV response. Women living with HIV are taking on more visible roles in advocacy, mentorship, and community mobilisation aimed at reducing stigma, improving wellbeing, and strengthening access to services.

This was reflected during the recent FIERCE event held to celebrate women living with HIV and their partners, where stakeholders highlighted how community-led approaches are now central to sustaining national HIV progress. The event underscored that women are no longer only beneficiaries of programmes but active decision-makers and implementers who shape how responses are designed and delivered at both national and grassroots levels.

Their growing role is widely viewed as a positive development for the HIV response. Evidence from HIV programmes across sub-Saharan Africa shows that community-led and gender-responsive interventions significantly improve uptake of testing, treatment adherence, and retention in care, especially among adolescent girls and young women who remain disproportionately affected by new infections. Studies indicate that this group continues to face higher vulnerability due to structural inequalities, stigma, and limited access to consistent healthcare services, making targeted community engagement essential for closing gaps in prevention and treatment outcomes.

In Tanzania, where adolescent girls and young women (in 2023, there were 210,000 new infections) account for a significant proportion of new HIV infections, strengthening peer-led advocacy and mentorship has been linked to improved awareness and earlier access to HIV services. Regional evidence also shows that initiatives led by women living with HIV help reduce self-stigma, improve health-seeking behaviour, and strengthen psychosocial support systems, particularly in underserved communities where formal health systems are often stretched.

A key focus of the discussions was intergenerational collaboration, with stakeholders emphasising that sustained progress depends on structured mentorship between older and younger women living with HIV. This approach is seen as critical in building leadership continuity, improving knowledge transfer, and ensuring that younger women are better equipped to navigate prevention, treatment, and advocacy spaces.

At the community level, volunteerism and peer support networks were also highlighted as effective tools for strengthening resilience and reducing stigma. These grassroots structures help bridge gaps between national HIV strategies and lived realities, ensuring that interventions are more responsive and accessible. Similar community-driven models have been associated with improved progress toward global targets such as the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals, which aim to increase diagnosis, treatment coverage, and viral suppression rates.

Despite these gains, stakeholders noted that adolescent girls and young women remain disproportionately affected by new infections, reinforcing the need for continued investment in targeted prevention, education, and empowerment programmes. Research across the region shows that while progress has been made in expanding testing and treatment coverage, prevention gaps persist due to social and economic vulnerabilities that disproportionately affect young women.

Overall, the discussions reinforced that strengthening women’s leadership is not only a social empowerment issue but also a public health strategy. Sustained progress in Tanzania’s HIV response will depend on deepening community-led action, expanding intergenerational collaboration, and ensuring that women living with HIV remain at the centre of decision-making, implementation, and accountability systems.

(Source: Daily News)