Geographical Locations - Tanzania

• (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 24,970
• CIA World Factbook : Tanzania

Organisations and Networks

UN and Multinational

• WHO
  - WHO Country Profile - United Republic of Tanzania
  - WHO - Tobacco control: Country Profile: United Republic of Tanzania
  - WHO - Environmental Burden of Disease: Country Profile – United Republic of Tanzania
  - WHO – Malaria Country Profile – United Republic of Tanzania

Government

• Ministry of Health

Non-Government

• Care in Tanzania
  CARE Tanzania has built a large development program in several areas of the country and works in civil society strengthening, basic and girls' education, nutrition and food distribution, health, HIV/AIDS, integrated conservation and development, education, and agricultural development.
• IRC in Tanzania
  Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation, protection, post-conflict development, resettlement services and advocacy for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. This site outlines IRC activities in Tanzania.
• Marie Stopes International
  Marie Stopes International provides sexual and reproductive health information and services to 4.3 million people worldwide.
• Tanzanian Training Centre for International Health - Ifakara
  The mission of the Centre is "to provide quality health training programs, facilities and services for continuous education in health to fast track the upgrading of allied health workers to meet the needs of primary health care facilities."

Academic Institutions

National Policy and Related Documents

Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

• AIDS education in Tanzania: promoting risk reduction among primary school children
  "Objectives: The purpose of this study was to test the effects of an education program in Tanzania designed to reduce children's risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and to improve their tolerance of and care for people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Methods: A randomized controlled community trial including baseline and 12-month follow-up surveys was employed. Public primary schools in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions of Tanzania were stratified according to location and randomly assigned to intervention (n = 6) or comparison (n = 12) conditions. Of the 1063 sixth-grade students (average age: 13.6 years) who participated at baseline, 814 participated in the follow-up survey. Results: At follow-up, statistically significant effects favoring the intervention group were observed for exposure to AIDS information and communication, AIDS knowledge, attitudes toward people with AIDS, and subjective norms and behavioral intentions toward having sexual intercourse. A consistent positive but non-significant trend was seen for attitudes toward having sexual intercourse and for initiation of sexual intercourse during the previous year (7% vs. 17%). Conclusions: It is feasible and effective to train local teachers and health workers to provide HIV/AIDS education to Tanzanian primary school children." [American Journal of Public Health (1997) 87 (12): 1931]
• Are health interventions implemented where they are most needed? District uptake of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness strategy in Brazil, Peru and the Republic of Tanzania
  In this article from the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (2006;84:792-801),"... Cesar Victora et al. assess the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy by looking at how well it reached poor areas within three countries. Their findings are sobering: overall, the strategy seemed to be implemented least energetically in the areas where it was most needed. This illustrates one of the many cruel ironies of efforts to help the poor: the tendency of service programmes to be much weaker in deprived areas than elsewhere."
• Community-based surveillance of malaria vector larval habitats: a baseline study in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
  As the population of Africa rapidly urbanizes it may be possible to protect large populations from malaria by controlling aquatic stages of mosquitoes. Here we present a baseline evaluation of the ability of community members to detect mosquito larval habitats with minimal training and supervision in the first weeks of an operational urban malaria control program… [The authors conclude that] the levels of coverage achieved by modestly trained and supported CORPs at the start of the Dar Es Salaam UMCP were insufficient to enable effective suppression of malaria transmission through larval control. Further operational research is required to develop surveillance systems that are practical, affordable, effective and acceptable so that community-based integrated vector management can be implemented in cities across Africa. [extracted from author abstract] [BMC Public Health 2006, 6:154]
• Contracting between faith-based and public health sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: An ongoing crisis? The case of Cameroon, Tanzania, Chad and Uganda
  "Contracting between faith-based district hospitals and public health authorities in Africa faces a crisis. This is the main conclusion of a study conducted for the Medicus Mundi International Network by the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (ITM), and including cases from Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania and Chad. In spite of the wide variety of contexts and experiences, the different case studies show that contracting between the State and faith-based district health sector has run into great difficulties. To make matters worse, there is no general awareness of the crisis, certainly not among the public sector actors. Unless correcting measures are taken, this almost hidden crisis risks to jeopardize in the medium-term the important contribution which the faith-based facilities make to the provision of care in Africa. The Medicus Mundi International Network is herewith disseminating the results of the study in order to contribute to the development of awareness of the situation and the urgency of change, and this not only in the countries and cases included in the study, but also with international cooperation actors. By helping to disseminate results, we hope to contribute to the joint search for structural solutions." Available in French/Français and English.
• Establishment of a large semi-field system for experimental study of African malaria vector ecology and control in Tanzania
  Medical entomologists increasingly recognize that the ability to make inferences between laboratory experiments of vector biology and epidemiological trends observed in the field is hindered by a conceptual and methodological gap occurring between these approaches which prevents hypothesis-driven empirical research from being conducted on relatively large and environmentally realistic scales. The development of Semi-Field Systems (SFS) has been proposed as the best mechanism for bridging this gap. Semi-field systems are defined as enclosed environments, ideally situated within the natural ecosystem of a target disease vector and exposed to ambient environmental conditions, in which all features necessary for its life cycle completion are present. Although the value of SFS as a research tool for malaria vector biology is gaining recognition, only a few such facilities exist worldwide and are relatively small in size (< 100 m²)… The SFS at Ifakara was completed and ready for use in under two years. Preliminary observations indicate that realistic and repeatable observations of anopheline behaviour are obtainable within the SFS, and that habitat and climatic features representative of field conditions can be simulated within it. As work begins in the SFS in Ifakara and others around the world, the major opportunities and challenges to the successful application of this tool for malaria vector research and control are discussed. [extracted from author abstract] [Malaria Journal 2008, 7:158]
• Externalisation of EU Asylum Policy: The Position of the African States
  "This paper explores the position of African states in the context of attempts by European states to externalize responsibility for asylum processing and refugee protection to refugees' regions of origin. It argues that the range of approaches developed by European states and their methods of cooperation fundamentally misrepresent the position of African states in the global refugee regime. Drawing upon the example of Tanzania , which has been the focal point for a range of the new initiatives, the paper demonstrates how the existing European approach has failed to adequately recognize many of the constraints on asylum in Africa."
• Getting Community Needs into District Development Plans
  These documents were prepared and produced by the Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) team from Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre (IHRDC). They include An Operational Manual for District Management Teams which was developed to incorporate peoples’ concerns and preferences into conventional planning processes. The Community Voice Initiative Photo Album - A slide-show illustrating and describing the approach taken to develop local plans that address community priorities in health, and Success and Challenges during Project Implementation.
• Integrating Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Public Health Facilities: A Success Story and Lessons Learned in Tanzania
  Lack of accessibility to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) information and services by young people is a problem that needs serious attention by program planners and service providers. Despite an increasing number of reports on youth SRH problems, the SRH needs of young people often fall through the cracks of many health and development plans and programs. Because of the stigma attached to adolescent sexuality, there have been pockets of opposition to youth access to SRH information and services for fear of promoting promiscuity among the age group. For that reason, there have been few efforts by policymakers, government leaders, and SRH service providers to promote provision of youth-friendly SRH services. As a result of that lapse, there has been a feeling by SRH stakeholders that such services can only be provided by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), rather than through the public health delivery system. However, public health facilities have great potential for scaling-up and sustaining youth-friendly SRH services due to a variety of reasons, foremost of which is that these facilities already exist and are more likely than NGO facilities to exist in the future. This document is intended to share successes and lessons learned from integrating Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) into public health facilities. [Pathfinder International Tanzania, November 2005]
• Poor people’s experiences of health services in Tanzania: A literature review
  This exhaustive survey of 2004 is mainly about women who are concerned primarily about the problem of fistula, but the survey covers all aspects of health services for poor women. The report concludes with 7 points for reflection and action. [Women s Dignity Project, 1 October 2004]
• Women’s Health in Tanzania: Key Findings from the 2004-05 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey and the 2003-04 Tanzania HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey
  This report summarises key findings about women from the 2004-05 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) and the 2003-04 Tanzania HIV/AIDS Indicator Survey (THIS). [Tanzania Gender Networking Program and Macro International Inc., 2007]

Educational Resources

• CDC - Travel Information : East Africa