PRESS RELEASE
Admin
June 1, 2016
PRESS RELEASE
BRINGING COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS TO THE MOST
ISOLATED AND UNDESERVED AREAS OF TANZANIA
BMF HQ, Kawe, Mwai Kibaki Road, 01st June 2016 – The Benjamin W. Mkapa Foundation (BMF) is pleased to announce the launch of a new partnership with Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) to implement a 3-year project which aims to support Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children – (MoHCDGEC) to roll out formal community health worker cadres.
Funded by Comic Relief, the project aims to support the Ministry in the development of policies to implement community based health programmes as well as to build capacity of zonal, regional and district levels on effective training, recruitment and retention of Community Health workers.
Mr. Godwin Kabalika, Country Manager of THET’s office in Tanzania said: ‘The country is facing some serious challenges to the health of its population, including significant shortage of skilled health workers which stands at 52 %. We believe that bringing new human resources to the most isolated and undeserved areas will help us tackle a number of health issues which are highly prevalent in the targeted areas, such as maternal mortality and HIV.’
The Mkapa Foundation which is the implementing partner of the project will be working closely with the MOHCDGEC, as well as other institutions working in the Lake Zone, such as the President’s Office Regional Authority and Local Government, Zonal Health Resource Centre, Regional Health Management Teams and Council Health Management Teams, to ensure that the intended objectives of the program are achieved at the highest level.
The project targets ten Health Training Institutions, four Teaching Hospitals and one Zonal Resource Centre all located in much underserved regions: Mwanza, Geita, Simiyu, Mara, Kagera, Kigoma and Shinyanga.
Dr. Ellen Senkoro, CEO of the Mkapa Foundation, said: ‘It is an ambitious programme. In three years, we expect to observe the targeted institutions delivering competent trainings to Community Health Workers (CHWs), hence enable them to provide health services relevant to their community. With the support of the Ministry as well as the regional and council level, we anticipate an increased utilization of community health service in the Lake Zone.’
The Community Health Workers project, funded by the UK based charity Comic Relief, will be running until March 2018.
THET and the MKAPA Foundation called upon all the actors who are involved in the health sector, and particularly in the area of human resources to join hands with the government, increase coordination especially those embarking on similar projects, and most importantly for the Local Government Authorities to set aside budget for community based health activities including salaries for the community health workers in order to make the programme sustainable.
Contacts:
Godwin Kabalika
Country Manager,
THET Tanzania
Plot 557, Mwai Kibaki Road, Kawe
Dar-es-Salaam
Tel office: +255 713 983858
Email: godwin.kabalika@thet.org
Dr. Ellen Mkondya-Senkoro
Chief Executive Officer
The Benjamin W. Mkapa Foundation (BMF)
Plot 557, Mwai Kibaki Road, Kawe
Dar-es-Salaam
Email: emsenkoro@mkapafoundation.org