Tanzania plans to step up its efforts in wiping out the so-called neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that continue to affect millions of people, especially the poor.
Director General of the National Institute of Medical Research, Dr Mwele Malecela
Among the strategies, according to the National Institute of Medical Research (NMRI), include an urban-based programme to dispense drugs to cover more than seven million people.
The NIMR Director General, Dr Mwele Malecela, said at a workshop for trainers of trainers (T&T) earlier this week that although Tanzania was globally hailed for its achievements in NTDs control only 14 million people out of the total 45 million population have so far been reached.
Dr Mwele listed five widely prevalent NTDs in Tanzania as lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), schistosomiasis (bilharzia), trachoma, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and soil-transmitted helminths (hookworm). She expressed satisfaction that by reaching 4.5 million people in Dar es Salaam and 3 million in Mwanza, the figures would rise to significant levels in the near future.
She congratulated the National NTD Control programme Secretariat for having reached 97 districts in 14 regions in the country by 2012 and asked the trainers to work closely and present ideas on what works best in reaching the people in Dar es Salaam and Mwanza.
“Something funny about administrating drugs in mass to urban dwellers is that while they tend to be more educated than people in rural areas, they are usually the first to refuse their children to take them and therefore you need very strong convincing powers to get the point across,” she said.
Dr Mwele told the trainers that they were the catalyst of the success of the programme adding that one trait among Tanzanians was that once they understood and embraced a concept, they usually put all their efforts to ensuring that it succeeds. She said that she believed that strong leadership was the secret to all successes stating that she was highly impressed with the composition of the group that had been picked from various professionals.
Those picked, she said, who include health coordinators and teachers, but suggested that service units like universities must be focused when the exercise to dispense would start.
The National NTD Control Programme Coordinator, Dr Upendo Mwingira told journalists that they had started training trainers for Kinondoni first and that Ilala and Temeke districts respectively would be done in the course of the week.
Dr Mwingira said that it was the plan of the programme that they were able to cover the whole country by 2015 though the magnitude of the diseases differed from one area to the other. NTDs disproportionally affect people in the poorest countries of the world. Experts estimate more than a billion people are affected by them, including more than 500 million children.
The WHO’s first global report on NTDs in 2010 said that while they cost billions of dollars in lost productivity, they are often ignored because they affect mainly poor people and do not offer a profitable market for drugmakers.
In Tanzania, there are 44 million people who are at risk to contract these diseases and these people are in 155 district councils. Last month, the Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Donan Mmbando was quoted as saying that he believed that come 2015, NTDs could be controlled and eliminated with the good job that the programme is doing.
By MASEMBE TAMBWE, Tanzania Daily News
