Regions benefit from German health support

MASEMBE TAMBWE

A THREE year implementation agreement has been signed between Tanzania and Germany that will see increased and improved access to quality and reliable health services to four regions.

The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Permanent Secretary, Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya, listed the regions as Tanga, Mbeya, Lindi and Mtwara and that the German government has committed 10 million Euros for technical cooperation.

“I’m glad for this commitment as all pregnant mothers seeking treatment will get the same services as a person with a health insurance card,” he explained. Dr Ulisubisya said in a press briefing that the rolling out of these quality services start immediately after the signing and that the programme significantly targets women and children.

The GIZ Programme Manager of the Tanzanian German Programme to Support Health (TGPSH), Dr Susanne Grimm, explained that the Tanzanian and German government have a long standing Agreement on Technical Cooperation which was signed on May 29, 1975.

Based on this agreement, the government launched a joint programme in health termed the Tanzanian German Programme to Support Health in 2003.

“The programme, which is about to wind up the fourth phase of its implementation, has registered commendable achievements in the areas of social health protection particularly in Community Health Fund (CHF).

It has also registered achievements in quality improvement of health services, support to public private partnership in health and installation and use of computers to improve hospital data management just to mention a few,” she said.

In the year 2015, the Tanzanian and German governments held bilateral negotiations which lead to the arrangement by way of the Agreement signed on November 4th, 2015, to extend the technical cooperation for three years beginning April 1, 2016.

Dr Grimm explained that the support will continue to engage in the areas of quality improvement, social health protection/health financing and governance in the health sector.

This support will be delivered within the sector wide approach (SWAp) and contributing to the objectives of the Tanzanian Government in health as laid out in Health Sector Strategic Plan 4 (HSSP IV).

The target group of the activities with a regional and district focus are some seven million inhabitants of the Lindi, Mtwara, Tanga and Mbeya regions, forty per cent of whom are poor.

Children and young people account for a very high share of the population here, with 67 per cent under 25. The activities at national level are designed to bring improvements that will benefit the entire population.