Tanzania
The story of NCDs and injuries in Tanzania
A large East African nation of more than 47 million people, Tanzania has made significant strides in both health and poverty at a national level. Still, in 2012, the World Bank estimated that 43 percent of the country lived on $1.25/day or less. The World Health Organization estimates that 30 percent of deaths in Tanzania in 2012 were due to noncommunicable diseases and injuries. As of 2010, the country was spending about $41 per capita annually on health care, which amounts to approximately 7 percent of GDP.
The NCD Division in the Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) is responsible for developing policies and monitoring progress in the response to NCDs and injuries in Tanzania. The Division has existed since 2008. Under the leadership of Dr. Ayoub Magimba working with Dr. Kafura William, the initial national strategic plan for NCDs (from 2009–2015) has been revised and is currently being finalized with costing for the 2015–2020 period.
Goals of the partnership with NCD Synergies
The MOHSW is partnering with NCD Synergies to hire a Senior Management Consultant to support national planning and operationalization, with a focus on monitoring and evaluation at the national level for NCDs and injuries in Tanzania. These efforts will improve Tanzania’s capacity to monitor equitable access to care and the NCD and injury disease burden specific to Tanzania’s poorest populations.
Working from the revised national NCD strategic plan, the Senior Management Consultant will assist the MOHSW with:
- Developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for NCDs to monitor population disease burden and effective coverage of interventions
- Furthering national strategic plan development and operational planning
National milestones
- Tanzania is one of the first African countries to have a national strategic plan for NCDs, which was designed for 2009-2015.
- Building on this initial success, a strategic plan for NCDs is currently being finalized with costing for the 2015-2020 time period.
Key Leadership
Dr. Ayoub Magimba (MD, MMED, MBA) is the Assistant Director of the Non Communicable Disease, Mental Health and Substance Abuse section for the MOHSW of Tanzania. A key member of the NCD unit at MOHSW since 2011, Dr. Magimba is an experienced leader in medical, non profit, and academic circles. Prior to his work at the MOHSW, Dr. Magimba served as Executive Director at Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Tanzania, as Program Director at AMREF Tanzania, and as Head of Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at Muhimbili National Hospital.
Sources: World Databank, UNICEF, Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzania Ministry of Health and Social Welfare