Rebuilding Health Infrastructure in Tanzania

Tanzania is among the African nations hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS crisis. The situation called for an immediate and dramatic response that was national in scope. In 2001, the Abbott Fund formed a unique, collaborative public-private partnership with the Government of Tanzania to support and strengthen the country's aging health care system, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS. This partnership takes a holistic approach to capacity building, testing, treatment, and community support, including caring for orphans and vulnerable children.

The Abbott Fund has already invested more than $50 million in modernizing the Tanzanian public health system and infrastructure, and we will invest another $10 million over the next three years.

Building on significant work at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania's leading teaching and reference hospital, the Abbott Fund has expanded Its support across the country. Current work Is focused on renovating and expanding the country's regional laboratory network.

In addition, the Abbott Fund recently announced construction of Tanzania's first pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic, located in the Mbeya region. It is modeled on the innovative pediatric clinic built by the Abbott Fund and the Baylor School of Medicine in Constanta, Romania, in 2001. An estimated 150,000 Tanzanian children suffer from HIV/AIDS, and the Mbeya region has the nation's second highest rate of HIV (13 percent). For years, there have been no pediatric physicians working in the Mbeya region, but two such doctors started working side-by-side with their Tanzanian counterparts here in Mbeya recently.

Muhimbili National Hospital

The critical first step in strengthening Tanzania's overall health care system was the 2005 renovation and expansion of Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam. The Abbott Fund supported the establishment of a new 40,000-square-foot (3,700-square-meter), three-story outpatient center. It serves hundreds of Tanzanians daily, with 34 patient examination rooms, a pharmacy and training facilities for health care professionals and medical students.

The nation's largest and busiest laboratory at Muhimbili Hospital also was renovated with Abbott Fund support . World-class diagnostic testing and monitoring for HIV and other chronic diseases is now done in 52,000 square feet of prime laboratory space. The new facility and its updated instrumentation have increased chemistry diagnostic testing capacity a hundred-fold (from 75 to 8,000 tests per day) while increasing hematology testing capacity four-fold (from 100 to 400 per day). This quantum leap in diagnostic testing capacity is supported by modern computerization that ensures timely delivery of test results directly to the physician's desktop. The efficiencies achieved at Muhimbili Hospital through advanced computer technology, plus improved health care record and case management, are dramatically improving the care and treatment of patients.

Regional Laboratories

Until now, lab facilities have been cramped, understaffed and under-resourced islands within hospitals. Lack of water, electricity, reagents and personnel has meant that patients with acute needs often go without proper diagnosis or treatment.

Through our ongoing partnership with the Government of Tanzania, we are building flexibly designed, standardized modern laboratories in 23 district and regional hospitals across the nation. Thanks to our investments, Tanzania will soon have sophisticated laboratories with capabilities in six key disciplines--blood bank, chemistry, hematology, serology, parasitology and microbiology. These modern, new regional labs will provide support for 77 district hospitals. The result: significant improvements in health care for millions of Tanzanians.

Groundbreaking for the first of these regional labs took place in July 2006 at Mt. Meru in Arusha. More recently, the cornerstone was laid for another new lab at Amana Regional Hospital, where more than 1,500 patients are seen each day. Limited space in the existing laboratory forces laboratory staff to put in significant overtime in order to provide results for up to 500 patients per day. The new lab will have triple the capacity of the old one, affording patients and physicians same-day access to test results.

Other newly modernized regional laboratories were made ready in Dodoma, Kagera and Tanga at the end of 2008. The remaining 19 labs are scheduled for completion by 2010, at an estimated cost of more than U.S. $10 million for the entire project. "Modern hospital laboratories are the building blocks for successful treatment," says the Honorable David Mwakyusa, the country's Minister of Health and Social Welfare. "We are grateful and excited to work with Abbott Fund on this project." Adds Abbott Fund President Babington: "This laboratory improvement project is an important part of our continued partnership with the Government of Tanzania to make sustainable improvements to the health care system In Tanzania — for the prevention and treatment of diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS and many other conditions."

In addition:

• Abbott Fund initiatives support hospitals and rural health facilities throughout Tanzania. Our initiatives include building renovations, equipment donations and financial support.
• The Abbott Fund initiative has served more than 180,000 patients and families and conducted nearly 10,000 health care worker trainings to support HIV/AIDS testing, counseling and treatment.
• To ensure the availability of highly qualified laboratory personnel to work in the new laboratories, Abbott is funding scholarships for more than 100 medical technology students annually at Bugando University, one of the largest universities In Tanzania, and is constructing a new laboratory to support the influx of new students and patients.
• In 2007, the Abbott Fund opened a new office in Dar es Salaam, its first outside of our Lake County, Illinois, headquarters. Its mission is to oversee philanthropic investments, identify strategic and innovative approaches to the health and social challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, and support continuing dialogue with the Government of Tanzania.

Abbott Volunteer Spotlight: Bob Downey

"It's often hot, and sometimes there is no running water or electricity," says Bob Downey, a laboratory medical technologist at Abbott Diagnostics, commenting on his volunteer work in Africa. "But I love the new experiences volunteering brings, and that's what keeps me motivated." As a volunteer In Tanzania, Downey combines the work he loves with the satisfaction of using his expertise to help people most in need.

Over the past few years, Downey's professional and volunteer goals have merged in Tanzania as he helped establish the new laboratories at Muhimbili Hospital in Dar es Salaam and at Mt. Meru.

Downey was among the first Abbott volunteers to live and work in Tanzania in order to support training and the practical application of new skills provided by the Ministry of Health. His work in Mt. Meru has become "proof of concept" for other mentoring programs throughout the country.