14th July, 2021

Your Excellency, Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania;

Your Excellency Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi, President of Zanzibar;

Your Excellency Former Presidents of the United Republic of Tanzania and Former Presidents of Zanzibar;

Your Excellencies Former Heads of State and Governments and friends of Late Former President Benjamin William Mkapa;

First Vice President and Second Vice Presidents of Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, 

Mama Anne Mkapa; Widow of the Late President Benjamin William Mkapa;

Honourable Ministers from the Union Government and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, 

Members of Diplomatic Corps;

Our Esteemed Partners, Donors;

Chair and Trustees of the Benjamin William Mkapa Foundation Board of Trustees

Family and Friends;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is our pleasure to have you, Your Excellency President Samia Sulumu Hassan with us this morning. We thank you for sharing with us your precious time. We just saw you arriving yesterday from Dodoma to be here with us and grace this Commemorations.

We started with the Panel Session on Health for All. As you may recall, Tanzania and other countries in the world are committed to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals which are anchored on a premise of ‘Not Leaving Anyone Behind’. In goal 3, our country and the world have committed to ensuring Universal Health Care by 2030. The aim is to ensure, everyone, everywhere, all the time, can have unhindered access to quality health care be it distance or income.

We are delighted that your government is keen to achieve that. The just-launched Health Sector Strategic Plan We are delighted that your government is keen to achieve that. The just-launched Health Sector Strategic Plan 2021-2026 has anchored on the same. We, the Mkapa Foundation have a vested interest to see that commitment is delivered and stands to support your government in all ways possible. We were part of the HSSP V preparations and will be part of its implementation. The Panel today was just a teaser towards that end. It reflected on what to be done by the government, Non-State Actors, and Donors to achieve UHC in Tanzania. Human capital, health infrastructure, health systems, community health and resilience, and financing among the issues that came out from the panel.

Your Excellency,

The Late President Benjamin William Mkapa was always ahead of time. His vision for this Foundation way back when it was established 15 years ago was to focus to ensure quality health for all too far to reach and underserved areas. Places and that fewer projects, interventions, and donors. These strengthening the health system, human resources for health, and health infrastructure. He challenged us to ensure we come out with solutions that will answer these challenges. And that has been the niche of this Foundation.

You may wish to know that since its establishment, about 20 million Tanzanians have been reached out and benefited by our programs and interventions. About 9,000 health workers have been employed and deployed to underserved areas. This perhaps makes BMF the second largest employer in the public health facilities  as a local Non State Actor, after the government.  530 health facilities have been built and rehabilitated. During Covid 19 emergency in March 2020, we worked closely with the government and deployed about 5,378 Community Health Workers to assist with community education and facilitation.

Your Excellency,

Behind all these achievements there is a vision of a man.  The one we are commemorating today. He did so much to his country while in office and after his term in office. He dedicated his life to the poor and underserved. We feel strongly that we have a duty to honor his life and celebrate his legacy. We are determined to carry over from where he ended and doing our level best to keep his ideas and conviction immortal and impactful. It is why we commemorate this day, from now onwards.

I welcome Your Excellency to be with us and we are all excited to hear from you today. 

I thank you for listening.

Welcoming-Remarks-by-Dr.-Ellen-Mkondya-Senkoro-CEO-of-the-Benjamin-W.-Mkapa-Foundation.pages