855m Tsh from WHO to help Tanzania in health research

Writer: Catherine Sungura, Dodoma

The World Health Organization (WHO) will provide Tanzania with 855 million Tanzanian dollars to enable the national survey of indicators of Non-Communicable Diseases (Steps Survey 2023) to be carried out in early August, this year throughout the country

Speaking during the launch by the Minister of Health of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar Hon. Nassor Mazrui in Dodoma, Executive Director of the Human Disease Research Institute (NIMR) Prof. Said Abood said the funds will help to complete the exercise in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Prof. Abood said that the “Steps Survey” is a monitoring of indicators of Non-Communicable Diseases to collect important data about Non-Communicable Diseases and risk indicators of those diseases.

“This study will provide important information about the state of health and our society and identify the actions of improvements in health and set strategies for improving those actions with the aim of strengthening the health of our society,” said Prof. Abood

He said statistics are the essence of building a healthy nation. “The data we will collect through this study will be used as a compass to guide us towards developing evidence-based strategies to improve the health of Tanzanians.

He also said that statistics will help them understand the risk indicators of non-communicable diseases such as unhealthy eating, lack of physical exercise and excessive alcohol consumption and can develop methods that will address those main causes of NCDs.

And, WHO representative Dr. Alphoncina Nanai said that Non-Communicable Diseases have become a major problem in the world.

He said that in every 10 deaths, 7 deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases in the world and 17 million people die where 86% of the deaths are from African countries.

In addition, Dr. Nanai said that Non-Communicable Diseases can be prevented and the WHO and the Government started a testing procedure ten years ago to find out the seriousness of these diseases and how they develop.

He said they are monitoring these diseases because there are many people who do not know if they have these diseases, these diseases are currently killing many people

She elaborated that the WHO will continue to cooperate with the Government to find out how they will be able to prevent these diseases for anyone who has not had it so that they should not get it and those who have it should be able to use the medicine properly.

At the same time, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Parliament on Health Services and AIDS Issues Hon. Stanislaus Nyongo said that the study will solve the problem of these diseases and give the country a vision.

He said that the Parliament is ready to educate the people to avoid those diseases that are now spending a lot of money to treat them.

For a long time, WHO has been a major stakeholder and sponsor of the Tanzanian government in solving health challenges along with disease control, including the provision of medical equipment.

Recently, WHO provided three ambulances in Kigoma region as well as participating in the fight against Marburg disease outbreak in Kagera region in parallel with supporting vaccination services, protective equipment against COVID 19 and reproductive health services in various areas in Tanzania