Mtwara: As Benjamin William Mkapa Foundation Continues to thrive deeply to make healthcare be accessible to all Tanzanian citizens. Mtwara citizens have been among the beneficiaries of the door-to-door COVID-19 campaign. Healthcare workers at Mtopwa Village in Nanyamba Town Council have been visiting households to make sure COVID-19 education and vaccination are accessible to everyone, especially to groups with special needs.

“As you can see, I am aging. I was told that a vaccine can save me from getting more serious health problems if I catch coronavirus. But at first I feared. Some neighbours were saying the vaccines are unsafe. But a health worker came to educate me about the benefits of being vaccinated’’ says Kapela who had just got his shot of the Pfizer vaccine while at his home.

Zanzibar:  When the COVID -19 pandemic hit in Zanzibar, Makunduchi Hospital, which serves as a district Hospital in Southern Unguja, was already in a bigger challenged to conduct its routine health services due to shortage of health workforce. With only 34 (19%) available Health Care Workers out of 181 requirements, the increased flow of clients at the facility mismatches the available human resources to battle with the needs including response to COVID -19 interventions.

“We were caught at a surprise because many clients were flowing at our facility and the fact that we are serving whole district, we had to stretch ourselves with the available staff to provide better services from 8:00am until 3:30 pm everyday as we couldn’t afford going beyond late hours due to shortage of manpower.” Says Dr. Amour Muhsin Burhan, the Acting facility In-charge.

Zanzibar:  It felt like an eternity, after waiting for too long to see the start of COVID-19 vaccination services at Selem Primary Health Care Unit+ (PHCU+) in Unguja—the largest and most populated Island of the Zanzibar archipelago. Then, finally in August 2021 the facility was earmarked as a vaccination center by the Ministry of Health. However, people’s hopes to be vaccinated almost vanished. No services were available as expected.

At the time, Josephine Maboko, the Facility In-charge of Selem PHCU+ was the only clinical officer available, alongside10 nurses who were providing medical services to the high volume of clients flocking to the facility.

“It was really challenging. I was the only clinician here providing routine health services, yet there were directives to provide COVID -19 services as well,’’ says Maboko.