In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that unless urgent investments are made in health systems, most of the Millennium Development Goals will not be met. In addition, the WHO cited a lack of health infrastructure as a key barrier to expanding access to HIV treatment in the developing world. The limits of current systems are becoming increasingly apparent as antiretroviral treatment becomes available in African countries, and systems must be adapted to accommodate long-term care, rather than just acute, emergency care.
Like many countries in Africa, Tanzania faces a significant HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2002, the Abbott Fund and the Government of Tanzania formed a unique public-private partnership, implementing one of the most comprehensive initiatives in Africa to strengthen a country’s health care system to meet the needs of people with HIV and other lifelong diseases. At the country's leading reference hospital, Muhimbili National Hospital, the Abbott Fund built a new outpatient center, clinical laboratory, and a modern, Emergency Medicine Department Center of Excellence.
The partnership has expanded testing and treatment at more than 90 health centers throughout Tanzania, bringing HIV services into some remote regions for the first time. In 2007, nearly one in three people on HIV treatment in Tanzania was receiving care at facilities that benefited from Abbott Fund support. To help provide the ongoing monitoring needed for these patients and others with chronic conditions, the Abbott Fund is currently modernizing or constructing laboratories at all 23 regional-level hospitals across the country. The $10 million project is scheduled for completion by 2010.
The countrywide initiative takes a comprehensive approach to modernizing the Tanzanian health care system, with results touching staff and patients at every level. Key areas of focus include modernizing facilities, training staff, improving hospital and patient management, and expanding capacity for testing and treatment. To date, The Abbott Fund has invested more than $60 million in the initiative.
For more information on the transformation of Muhimbili National Hospital, click here.
For more information on health care system improvements across Tanzania, click here.
Our Partnership Results to date
- A new outpatient center and state-of-the-art clinical laboratories are now serving hundreds of patients each day
- More than 15,000 health care workers have been trained or retrained in effective HIV care
- Testing and treatment have been expanded at more than 90 hospitals and health centers throughout the country
- HIV testing has been provided for more than 300,000 people
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“In Tanzania we are all affected by AIDS, because every one of us here has a family member or knows a friend or neighbor who is HIV positive.” Dr. Ferdnand Mugusi is an HIV physician at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, who has witnessed the transformation being undertaken at his hospital. At his old HIV clinic, rooms were old and crowded, records were kept by hand, and patients had to wait for days for lab results. Dr. Mugusi is now able to offer his HIV/AIDS patients high quality treatment at the new outpatient clinic.
"These new facilities and systems have already had a tremendous positive impact on patients – from the moment people walk in for confidential HIV testing and counseling, to the time they leave the pharmacy with their medication. The new facilities also have decreased the stigma of AIDS; patients are more willing to come forward for testing and treatment. We also have seen the positive effect the improvements have had on staff. Now my colleagues feel like they have the tools and setting to provide quality care for patients."
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