In 2021

Doctors with Africa CUAMM’s activities in Tanzania were heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in 2021. The country’s already weak health facilities were therefore unable to take appropriate countermeasures, which left them unprepared to handle the large number of infected patients when the Delta variant emerged in July. Doctors with Africa CUAMM supported the health system by providing medical supplies, drugs and protective materials and making its personnel available to help treat the sick. In the fall, when COVID-19 vaccination campaigns kicked off, our organization lent its support to the 5 regions where we are active – Iringa, Njombe, Simiyu, Shinyanga and Dodoma – assisting with logistics, vaccine distribution and immunization in villages and helping to raise community awareness about the virus.

We also continued our intervention in the area of maternal and child health, facilitating access to health services, including obstetric emergency services, to those in need, to ensure greater service coverage, equity and quality. Support was provided to peripheral health facilities through the training of health workers, supervision and the supply of drugs. In addition, CUAMM worked to combat acute and chronic malnutrition, supporting Tanzania’s national program with educational activities to promote the exclusive breastfeeding of newborns for the first 6 months of life, weaning, and proper infant feeding. Integrated with water and agriculturerelated initiatives carried out in partnership with other NGOs, the interventions sought to improve the quality of services provided by nutritional units through health personnel training, supervision and the supply of nutritional supplements critical for the treatment of malnourished individuals. CUAMM integrated them with other activities aimed at early child development to help foster children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development.

Our HIV prevention and treatment efforts also continued with a program in the Shinyanga and Simiyu Regions that implemented the test-and-treat strategy and provided free care and treatment to HIV-positive patients. The program also involved awarenessraising campaigns to reduce HIV-related stigma and offered opportunities for testing, with a special focus on adolescents. Another key goal for CUAMM was to bolster efforts to prevent and treat chronic diseases at the national level. We developed an integrated project for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and hypertension at the Tosamaganga Hospital, which became the district referral facility for the diagnosis and care of such patients, with peripheral facilities supporting treatment and follow-up.