Abstract:
For over a decade, the central government of Tanzania has increasingly been pushing for responsibility for planning HIV and AIDS interventions to communities, and it has developed three phases of National Multisectoral Strategic Framework to date in an attempt to involve them in the planning process. Yet, many obstacles stand in the way of participation in the planning process. Drawing on 192 respondents, 12 focus group discussants and 16 key informants, this research sought to assess determinants of community participation in planning HIV and AIDS interventions under NMSF in Mtwara Region. A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2014 and February 2015. The findings indicated that the majority of the surveyed people (69.0%) were not aware of NMSF interventions while 77.0% had unfavourable attitude towards HIV and AIDS interventions under NMSF. It was also found that 81.8% did not participate in planning HIV and AIDS interventions. Furthermore, using ordinal logistic regression, it was found that community awareness of (p ≤ 0.001) and attitude towards HIV and AIDS interventions (p ≤ 0.005), access to planning information (p ≤ 0.001), education level (p ≤ 0.05), and community satisfaction with involvement in planning (p ≤ 0.001) were the factors observed to have significant impacts on the chances of participating highly in planning of HIV and AIDS interventions. In conclusion, community participation in planning HIV and AIDS interventions in Mtwara region is low despite the government efforts to involve the participation. Considering the importance of community participation, it is suggested that the relevant authorities should address barriers to low community participation in the planning process.
