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A Community Proudly Empowered To Manage Own Health Facility
For years, the Kelema Dispensary, tucked away in a remote village of Tanzania's Chemba District, struggled to deliver adequate healthcare. Understaffed and underfunded, the dispensary’s plans seemed off-target. the Benjamin Mkapa Foundation (BMF) jolted into action, and became a pioneer, implementing the first-ever Direct Health Facility Financing (DHFF) program. DHFF, has empowered communities to make independent spending decisions to improve the quality of care.
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As Soya Village Thrives: Youth Peers Lead The Way
Rayan(middle) displays a tablet which he obtained through Mkapa Fellows Program phase III to promote Adolescents, Sexual and Reproductive Health to his peers. “We witnessed many girls getting pregnant under the age of 20,” explains Tatu Rashidi, the District Reproductive and Child Health Coordinator (DRCHCO) for Chemba, where Soya is found. BMF trained 50 Youth Peer Educators (YPEs) in 25 villages. The YPEs and CHW working in tandem through BMF's innovative pairing model approach, brought in a sense of community ownership of healthcare initiatives.
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A Lab Technician Who Renewed Hope for Migato Village
Migato village, located 16 kilometers awayfrom Itilima District headquarters in Simiyu Region,grappled with a crisis of human resources forhealth, making it difficult to deliver quality Antenatalcare (ANC) to expectant mothers who often thronged the facility. A crucial healthcare professional was missing: A laboratory technician who could have offered essential diagnostic services. Benjamin Mkapa Foundation (BMF) through Mkapa Fellows Program III, with support from Irish Aid deployed a lab technician at Migato Health Centre.
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CHAID: A Digital Tool Gaining Ground,Boosting Health In Rural Communities
Community Health Assistant Information and Decision-making (CHAID) tool, a mobile application, that empowers Community Health Workers (CHWs) to improve the access of health services to communities, mostly in rural parts of Tanzania. By aiding the CHWs in making critical decisions, referrals, patient follow-up, and feedback reporting, CHAID addresses people’s delays in seeking care, reaching health facilities, and receiving proper treatment. Benjamin Mkapa Foundation under its Mkapa Fellows Program III, with support from Irish Aid developed the tool.
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Musoma Mothers in Peace of Mind
Nurse midwife Iddi Mlendela Mashaka examining a pregnant woman at the Nyasho Health Centre, Musoma. A timely deployment of additional Human Resources for Health (HRH) at Nyasho Health Centre in Musoma Municipality of the Mara Region, brought a huge relief to expectant mothers who were running short of quality maternal services. The deployment of just four midwives made a huge difference in maternal health services. 16 Regions in Tanzania currently benefit from the USAID Afya Endelevu project, which addresses Human Resources for Health (HRH) shortfalls.
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Record of milestones with volunteers-in-charge
Across an inlet of Lake Victoria, lies Kamanga Health Centre, where a team of volunteering Healthcare Workers (HCWs) have taken over the leadership of the facility; with a transformative approach. Steven Godwin, is the Medical Officer-in-Charge of the Health Centre. Despite being a volunteer, Godwin says he feels more trusted to lead the facility, alongside four other volunteers with support from the Benjamin Mkapa Foundation, under USAID Afya Endelevu Activity. The volunteers have collaborated with the existing staff(who are fully employed) to support the provision of healthcare, with focus on of Reproductive, Maternal, and Child Health (RMCH) services and other essential health services.
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