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Tanzania: Primary Healthcare & UHC To Take Centre Stage This October
17th July 2023 | Health System Strengthening
When this year kicked off, the Hon. Minister of Health Ummy Mwalimu announced that the agenda for the country’s health sector is Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Tanzania Health Summit (THS) is building the momentum for a breakthrough to support the Government’s move, in collaboration with all healthcare stakeholders.
About 10 years ago when THS started, the agenda reflected the major challenges at the time, and over the years, the country’s healthcare agenda has advancing through stages. THS is a platform where the progress of these stages can be tracked. Starting from this year’s selection of the theme: Strengthening Health Systems for UHC, focusing on Primary Health Care, we take you back to the early days when THS started and the national challenges that were being given priority at the time.
As it may be recalled by then in 2014, a STEPS survey report conducted by Dr. Marry Mayige and Prof. Kaushik Ramaiya et al, suggested that there was a relatively high prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases risk factors in Tanzania.
However, by then, HIV, TB and malaria infection rates were alarming. Maternal mortality was over 500 deaths/100,000 live births. This situation alerted a section of scientists led by Dr. Omary Chillo and Dr. Chakou Halfani, to act.
Thus, the idea to start Tanzania Health Summit came. THS, as Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has now metamorphosed into a platform for organizing and carrying out health awareness campaigns and advocacy.
It was born as a result of the enormous collective efforts which began in 2014 when Tanzania was at the height of an increasing double burden of the NCDs. The summit was established to harness discussions that can ignite the collective efforts of institutions and individuals to contribute towards realising the national health agenda and curbing the disease burden.
The first theme (2014) was Promoting Healthcare by engaging health professional suppliers and policymakers. And the subsequent themes have been selected based on the views of stakeholders in the healthcare industry and the Government.
In 2015, the theme was: Investment, Innovation and Big Result Now Initiative in Health Sector: Drivers of Change to a Healthy Society.
- In 2016 theme was: Towards Universal Access to healthcare: The role of public and private sector.
- In 2017 theme: Connecting Science, Innovation and Policies to Achieve Universal Quality Healthcare.
- In 2018, theme: Tanzania Health Sector Industrialization.Progress Review and Unlocking Persisting challenges.
- In 2019, theme: Public and Private Health Systems Improvement: Efficiency and Impact
- In 2020, theme: Transforming the success of middle-income economy into a healthier nation.
- In 2021 theme: Health System Improvement in Tanzania: Efficiency and Impact.
- In 2022, theme: Quality of Healthcare in Tanzania: The Current Status and Area of Improvement toward achieving HSSP V.
This year, the focus now goes to: Strengthening Health Systems for UHC, focusing on Primary Health Care. Plan not to miss this important event in October, from 3rd to 5th at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre as we mark the 10th Anniversary. This event will help boost your visibility and broaden your reach to the hundreds of healthcare players who will be personally and virtually attending the meeting. But there is much more:
- Meet with professionals from the widest variety of disciplines in the healthcare industry.
- This is your chance to learn about successful strategies in other fields that may be applicable to your own work.
- Be among of the team, which accelerates the required positive transformation in health sector.
- Let people (policy makers and others) know the contributions and achievements you have made, which (might) significantly bring changes and impact the health sector at large.
- Get to know scientific research findings from different research institutions and their plan of implementation.
- Who is who in health industry: Market your brand, interact with health business executives, acquire new buyers or service providers and keep growing.
Register via the link: https://ths.or.tz/registration-selection/