United Republic of Tanzania News

4 June 2021, Zanzibar: The President of Zanzibar and Chairman of the Revolutionary Council, Dr. Hussein Ali Mwinyi received the WHO Representative to United Republic of Tanzania, Dr. Tigest Ketsela in the State House early in June 2021. During the meeting, His Excellency the President acknowledged the continued support of the World Health Organization since the early 1950’s to improve the health status of Tanzanians and the Zanzibar population.

Every year, on the 14th of June, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event serves as a platform to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gift of blood. It is also used to raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure the quality, safety and availability of blood and blood products for patients in need.

April 2021, Morogoro: Tanzania marked the African Immunization Week on 26-30 April with a call to spike efforts from national level to family level to ensure all eligible children and adolescents are vaccinated.

25 April 2021, Arusha: Tanzania has launched a new intervention aiming to eliminate malaria in locations with low risk of malaria. Malaria Case Based Surveillance (mCBS) was launched by the Minister of Health Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr. Dorthy Gwajima in Arusha during the commemoration of the World Malaria Day 2021.

19 April 2021, Kigoma Region: In a bid to contribute to preparedness of Kigoma region against epidemic prone diseases and general improvement of health services the region, the World Health Organization donated an ambulance and four motorcycles, worthy TZS 119.9 million. Because of its location on the border with Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, Kigoma region is a critical area in Tanzania’s preparedness against outbreaks. Additionally, have frequent population movements as it hosts refugees from the two nations.

In Kwa Bada village in north-eastern Tanzania, community health volunteer Sylvia Petro is hunting an ancient, endemic disease and shining a light on the devastating stigma that surrounds it.

Efforts to end female genital mutilation are gradually bearing fruit in Tanzania. The prevalence of the ritual that marks a rite of passage among some communities has now fallen to around 10% from 18% in 1996.

Malaria is an abiding threat to Amina Yusuf Mkwanywe, a resident of Ikwiriri in Tanzania’s southern Rufiji district. “I really have to be vigilant all the time to be free of malaria,” she says.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Zanzibar Ministry of Health is supporting government-led efforts to strengthen the International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities.

Mid-this year, WHO provided the Ministry of Health with medical supplies including hospital beds, personal protective equipment (PPE), patient monitors, office furniture and equipment for the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC) in Zanzibar. The total cost of the donation was 95,657,500.00 Tanzanian Shillings equivalent to USD 41,992.

A promise of lowering malaria infection rate is evident in communities that benefit from phase two of the China-Tanzania Malaria project in Kibiti, Kilwa and Rufiji districts in Coast Region of Tanzania. Malaria is endemic in the three districts in the lower reaches of the Rufiji. More than 269,000 people are direct beneficiaries of the project.

The country office of the World Health Organization is the technical evaluator of the project, which is part of the global High Burden High Impact Initiative to roll back malaria.