Using digital technology as a platform to strengthen the continuum of care at community level for maternal, child and adolescent health in Tanzania: introducing the Afya-Tek program.

Inadequate care within Tanzania's primary health system contributes to thousands of preventable maternal and child deaths, and unwanted pregnancies each year. A key contributor is lack of coordination between three primary healthcare actors: public sector Community Health Workers (CHWs) and health facilities, and private sector Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDOs). The Afya-Tek program aims to improve the continuity of care amongst these actors in Kibaha district, through a mobile-application based digital referral system that focuses on improving maternal, child and adolescent health.

Documenting the implementation processes and effects of the data use initiatives in primary health care settings in Tanzania: A before-after mixed methods study protocol.

Background: The use of data in decision making and planning in primary health care settings is critical for improving efficiency and health outcomes for patients and communities. Implementation research can be used to fully understand the effects, context, challenges, and facilitators of data use, as well as how to scale up data use interventions. However, in the context of low resource settings, little is known about how implementation research can be employed to assess the implementation and impact of data use interventions.

Organizational learning in surgery in Tanzania's health system: a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Organizational learning is critical for delivering safe, high-quality surgical care, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where perioperative outcomes remain poor. While current investments in LMICs prioritize physical infrastructure, equipment, and staffing, investments in organizational learning are equally important to support innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement of surgical quality. This study aims to assess the extent to which health facilities in Tanzania's Lake Zone perform as learning organizations from the perspectives of surgical providers.

National Non-Communicable Diseases Conferences- A Platform to Inform Policies and Practices in Tanzania.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) arise from diverse risk factors with differences in the contexts and variabilities in regions and countries. Addressing such a complex challenge requires local evidence. Tanzania has been convening stakeholders every year to disseminate and discuss scientific evidence, policies, and implementation gaps, to inform policy makers in NCDs responses.

Non-communicable Diseases Week: Best Practices in Addressing the NCDs Burden from Tanzania.

Background: Five million people die every year from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. In Tanzania, more than two-thirds of deaths are NCD-related. The country is investing in preventive and advocacy activities as well as interventions to reduce the burden.

Mitigating the Rising Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases through Locally Generated Evidence-Lessons from Tanzania.

Background: The burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is rapidly increasing globally, and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the brunt of it. Tanzania is no exception. Addressing the rising burden of NCDs in this context calls for renewed efforts and commitment by various stakeholders.

Research capacity, motivators and barriers to conducting research among healthcare providers in Tanzania's public health system: a mixed methods study.

Background: Building health research capacity in low- and middle-income countries is essential to achieving universal access to safe, high-quality healthcare. It can enable healthcare workers to conduct locally relevant research and apply findings to strengthen their health delivery systems. However, lack of funding, experience, know-how, and weak research infrastructures hinders their ability.

A Qualitative Study on Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake among Community Members in Tanzania.

The use of vaccines is one of the key tools in reversing the COVID-19 pandemic; however, various reports reported the low uptake of the vaccines. This study explored the barriers to the COVID-19 vaccine uptake among community members in Tanzania. A qualitative explorative study was conducted in December 2021 and April 2022 in eight regions of Tanzania.

Community-based transport system in Shinyanga, Tanzania: A local innovation averting delays to access health care for maternal emergencies.

In achieving the sustainable development goal 3.1, Tanzania needs substantial investment to address the three delays which responsible for most of maternal deaths. To this end, the government of Tanzania piloted a community-based emergency transport intervention to address the second delay through m-mama program.

Towards sustainable emergence transportation system for maternal and new born: Lessons from the m-mama innovative pilot program in Shinyanga, Tanzania.

Maternal mortality comprises about 10% of all deaths among women of reproductive age (15-49 years). More than 90% of such deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In this study, we aimed to document lessons learnt and best practices toward sustainability of the m-mama program for reducing maternal and newborn mortality in Tanzania.

Understanding the implication of direct health facility financing on health commodities availability in Tanzania.

The Government of Tanzania (GoT) has in the last decade made progress in strengthening the health system financing with progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The major reforms includes development of the health financing strategy, reforming the Community Health Fund (CHF) and introduction of the Direct Health Facility Financing (DHFF). DHFF was introduced in all district councils in the 2017/18 financial year.

Confidence in COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and safety and its effect on vaccine uptake in Tanzania: A community-based cross-sectional study.

COVID-19 is a major public health threat associated with increased disease burden, mortality, and economic loss to countries and communities. Safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines are key in halting and reversing the pandemic. Low confidence in vaccines has been one of the factors leading to hesitancy.

The public health sector supply chain costs in Tanzania.

Tanzania's supply chain system is a complicated web of integrated and vertical systems, covering essential and vertical programs health commodities, laboratory and diagnostics, equipment, and supplies. Despite significant improvement in the supply chain over the decades, the availability of medicines has remained uneven. Therefore, identifying the cost of operating the supply chain is vital to facilitate allocation of adequate finances to run the supply chain.

Strengthening health management, leadership, and governance capacities: What are the actual training needs in Tanzania?

Background And Aim: Effective management, leadership, and governance (MLG) contribute to improved population health outcomes. However, weak management, leadership, and governance capacity continue to haunt many health systems in low- and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Capacity strengthening through training of health system managers is among the strategies to address the latter challenge.

The Role of Community Participation in Planning and Executing Malaria Interventions: Experience from Implementation of Biolarviciding for Malaria Vector Control in Southern Tanzania.

Background: Malaria remains a disease of great public health importance in 85 countries globally. Developing countries face resource constraints in implementing public health interventions aiming at controlling malaria. Promoting community participation may contribute to rational and effective use of resources and therefore facilitating achievement of intervention goals in a cost-effective manner while fostering sustainability.

Perceived performance of health facility governing committees in overseeing healthcare services delivery in primary health care facilities in Tanzania.

Health Facility Governing Committees (HFGCs) play a vital role in overseeing health services delivery in the primary health care system. However, despite their existence in Tanzania hiccups remain reported on the quality of health services delivered in primary health care facilities. The latter poses a question on the performance of HFGCs in overseeing the services delivery at the primary health facilities.

Biolarviciding implementation in southern Tanzania: Scalability opportunities and challenges.

Background: The resistance to insecticides among malaria vectors poses a global challenge in the efforts towards malaria elimination. This calls for an addition of larval control methods such as biolarviciding. However, the implementation of biolarviciding in Tanzania has been very low.

Development and upgrading of public primary healthcare facilities with essential surgical services infrastructure: a strategy towards achieving universal health coverage in Tanzania.

Background: Infrastructure development and upgrading to support safe surgical services in primary health care facilities is an important step in the journey towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Quality health service provision together with equitable geographic access and service delivery are important components that constitute UHC. Tanzania has been investing in infrastructure development to offer essential safe surgery close to communities at affordable costs while ensuring better outcomes.

A gene variant in the Atp10d gene associates with atherosclerotic indices in Japanese elderly population.

Background: ATP10D belongs to a subfamily of P-type ATPases implicated in phospholipids translocation from the exoplasmic to the cytoplasmic leaflet of cellular biological membrane. Previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified that a variant in Atp10d gene (rs2351791) associates with serum lipid profile and myocardial infarction. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of this variant on atherosclerosis in Japanese elderly population.

Effectiveness of health sector reforms in reducing disparities in utilization of skilled birth attendants in Tanzania.

Improving maternal health is a Millennium Development Goal adopted at the 2000 Millennium Summit of the United Nations. As part of the improving maternal health in Tanzania, it has been recommended that skilled birth attendants be present at all births to help reduce the high maternal mortality ratio. However, utilization of these attendants varies across socio-economic groups.