United Republic of Tanzania News

The United Republic of Tanzania has been vulnerable to several disease outbreaks for decades. Recently, the country has faced several public health emergencies including COVID-19, Leptospirosis, Marburg, Measles, and Cholera. The reported cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the neighbouring countries have constantly threatened the lives of thousands of people in the country requiring strict measures and mechanisms to halt cross-border transmissions.

Kagera – The declaration of the end of the Marburg outbreak in Tanzania was received with a sigh of relief and ripples of excitement from the north to south and east to west of the Kagera region, the epicenter of the Marburg outbreak and the whole of Tanzania. Although the effective management and timely containment of the virus prevented its overspill to other regions, the outbreak came with a sense of fear and panic in the country.

Kigoma Region - In rural areas of Kigoma region in Tanzania, access to quality health services for pregnant women are constrained by distance, cost, unreliable diagnostic equipment, and inadequate transportation to referral hospitals. This has led to high numbers of maternal and perinatal deaths during pregnancy. 

Dar es Salaam - As the World battled the COVID-19 pandemic, communities, individuals and institutions, and national health authorities contended with an overabundance of right and wrong information. This aggravated because of top-notch advancement in information technology.

WHO defines infodemic as an overabundance of accurate and inaccurate information during epidemics which many times led too confusion and ultimately mistrust in governments and public health response.

Dar es Salaam- Tanzania marked the World Malaria Day on 25 April, with top leadership of the country showcasing commitment to uplift the agenda to end malaria by 2030. The Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, representing the President at the commemorations in Dar es Salaam initiated the national End Malaria Council.   

Zanzibar -The World Health Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Zanzibar, has trained 56 rapid responders in Zanzibar to effectively respond to public health emergencies in the islands and beyond. This is part of the effort to ensure that each African country is equipped with knowledge and skills to respond to public health emergencies within 24 to 48 hours of an incident.

Dar es Salaam - Active participation of the local communities is key to promoting community ownership and commitment towards addressing negative practices that favour the spread of diseases. World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with UNICEF and the Ministry of Health are working together to empower key community groups living in affected regions by the recent cholera outbreak in Tanzania with appropriate sanitation and hygienic skills and advocacy messages to prevent and respond to the outbreak.

To deliver on its core mandate as the UN lead agency for health, WHO plays essential roles in supporting countries to prepare for, respond to and recover from disease outbreaks and emergencies with public health consequences. This critical role was boosted recently with funding support from ECHO, which enabled WHO to reach more than 166,637 eligible persons with vaccination against COVID-19 in Arusha region of the United Republic of Tanzania significantly raising the Arusha regional coverage from 55% in June 2022 to 102% in January 2023.

Manyara - A big gray cloud dims the sun for a small crowd seated on chairs arranged on a grass clearing beside a hospital ward and long, roofed corridor. Officials from the district, Ward and village seat on row of chairs on the corridor, facing the crowd of mothers who nurse infants and children on their laps.

A few men dot the mainly ladies gathering. Behind the small crowd an earth-colored tent is pitched. On its gable a handwritten sign announces the occasion: Vaccination week, Ayalagaya Ward.