Inclusive health services in Tanzania

Background information

In rural Tanzania, poor infrastructure is a barrier to accessing healthcare. Distances are great and the effects of climate change are exacerbating the destruction of the transport infrastructure. High poverty rates mean that a large proportion of the population can neither afford the transportation costs for distant facilities nor health insurance. This is a burden that is disproportionately borne by women, who are largely responsible for caring for the elderly, children or the sick. For people with disabilities, there is very limited health care and little awareness of their rights and needs. Their stigmatization remains high. There are few organizations in Tanzania that support and promote people with disabilities. Persistently high HIV rates in the southern highlands of Tanzania, combined with non-communicable diseases (diabetes, heart disease, cancer) have led to a high number of people with chronic illnesses.

Project goals

Overall Objectives:

Health care for marginalized and vulnerable population groups in the southern highlands of Tanzania is improved through community-based prevention and rehabilitation measures.

Subgoals:

• Improved prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases (including cancer)
• Improved access to rehabilitation services for people with disabilities
• Improving the economic situation of marginalized and vulnerable people
• Increased awareness of holistic healthcare

Target groups

• Residents of rural areas in the Southern and South-Western Provinces of the MCT, especially the socially and economically disadvantaged
• People with disabilities
• Multipliers in society

Activities

• Construction of a rehabilitation center with facilities for therapy and training rooms
• Provision of aids for people with disabilities as well as rehabilitative and therapeutic measures
• Health insurance for people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups
• Training in the areas of health prevention, domestic violence, non-communicable diseases or income generation
• Trainings on gender-based violence and violence against children
• Support and care for HIV-positive persons
• Training and further education of project staff
• Awareness campaigns on the rights of people with disabilities and on the prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases

Tanzania health project: A film gives an insight into the day-to-day running of the project

A life with HIV: children and young people help themselves

Project progress

In 2024, the focus was on the inclusion of people with disabilities: through health insurance and aids such as wheelchairs, crutches or canes for the blind, physiotherapy and seminars on income generation. Five people with disabilities received educational scholarships, including for university. Relatives were also accompanied and supported. 50 multipliers were trained in the prevention of domestic violence. 90 young people took part in seminars on life skills, including sexual self-determination ("No means no"). Prevention work among young people was also successfully continued in order to prevent new infections with the HI virus. Awareness-raising work for the rights of people with disabilities remains important. This was achieved through social media and broadcasts on the radio station "Baraka FM" in Mbeya, which is listened to by an average of around 300,000 people.