Malaria, HIV and TB in Tanzania: Epidemiology, Disease Control Challenges and Interventions

Abstract

Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. The population is estimated to be 61 million in 2021. Malaria, HIV and tuberculosis (TB) are significant public health concerns in Tanzania. HIV/AIDS was the third leading cause of death in the country in 2019 (Global Burden of Disease, 2021), accounting for 27,000 deaths in 2020 (UNAIDS, 2020). Tanzania is among the ten countries with the highest malaria cases and deaths (3% of the global cases, 13.4% of cases in East and Southern Africa, and 5% of global deaths) (Severe Malaria Observatory, 2021). Tanzania is one of the High TB Burden Countries, and one of the High TB/HIV Burden Countries. In Tanzania, it is estimated that of 154,000 new cases of TB in 2017, 31% (48,000) were also HIV positive (WHO, 2018). TB has been the leading cause of death among HIV positive individuals (Mollel et al., 2019), a close monitoring of its occurrence in this subgroup of people is important. This rapid literature review highlights key aspects of the epidemiology of malaria, HIV and TB in Tanzania and challenges in prevention, detection and treatment; and surveys select interventions that seek to address these challenges. This is part of a series of reports looking into Epidemiology of Malaria, human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) across a set of African Nations.