Press Release
President of Tanzania and the Abbott Fund Dedicate Modern Emergency Medical Department
Facility is First in Tanzania to Meet International Standards in Emergency
Medicine; Effort is Latest Result of Longstanding Partnership to Strengthen
Tanzania's Health Care System
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Nov. 3, 2009 – For the first time, emergency room
services meeting international standards will be a part Tanzania's public
health system, thanks to the opening of a new Emergency Medical Department
building and extensive training being conducted at Muhimbili National Hospital.
At a ceremony yesterday, President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic
of Tanzania joined representatives from the Abbott Fund in dedicating the new
facility. The building renovations, new equipment and staff training are being
supported by a grant from the Abbott Fund, the philanthropic foundation of the
global health care company Abbott. The initiative is part of a broader
partnership between the Government of Tanzania and the Abbott Fund to
strengthen the country's health care system.
"The opening of this emergency center will help to save lives in Dar es
Salaam and across the region, and will lead to fundamental differences in
emergency care training in the future," said President Kikwete. "We are
grateful for this latest step in our long and very successful partnership with
the Abbott Fund."
Emergency medicine is not a specialty that is typically offered as part of
medical training in most parts of Africa. As a result, patients admitted to
public hospitals for acute conditions generally receive limited care until a
specialist is available to provide treatment. With the opening of the new
Emergency Medical Department, state-of-the-art urgent care will be available to
patients. A comprehensive training program will upgrade emergency care
expertise for staff at Muhimbili, with the long-term goal of training future
physicians in the specialty of Emergency Medicine.
"The new Emergency Medical Department provides resources and procedures
that significantly improve urgent medical care at our hospital," said
Professor Leonard Lema, executive director, Muhimbili National Hospital.
"Our broader goal is to utilize this department as a training ground and
create a residency program in emergency medicine at Muhimbili. This will help
elevate the level of emergency care expertise in other hospitals in
Tanzania."
The $3 million project is an extension of the Abbott Fund's partnership with
the Government of Tanzania to improve health care infrastructure and systems in
Tanzania. The Abbott Fund has invested more than $60 million to date in one of
the largest public-private partnerships in Africa aimed at enhancing access to
health care on a national scale. Today, one in three people with HIV taking
antiretroviral therapy receive services at a facility that has benefited from
Abbott Fund support.
"Throughout our partnership in Tanzania, we have worked with the
government to identify critical needs in the health care system and develop
solutions that will have the greatest impact in improving people's lives,"
said Catherine Babington, president, the Abbott Fund. "Through this new
facility and a strong focus on staff training, our goal is to significantly
improve emergency medical care in Tanzania."
To quickly strengthen local expertise, emergency room physicians and nurses
from academic centers in the U.S. are working side by side with staff at
Muhimbili and mentoring them in standard emergency room procedures and
equipment use. Training focuses on basic life support, adult cardiac life
support, pediatric life support and advanced trauma life support. The staff
also is learning how to use new diagnostic equipment, including point-of-care
testing that can provide rapid insights into underlying disease and the overall
health status of patients. In addition, MRI and CT scanning equipment also will
be available. To date, more than 500 health workers have received training in
emergency care at Muhimbili. Dr. Alwyn Mziray, a native Tanzanian trained in
emergency medicine in the U.S., has returned to Tanzania to lead the project
and co-manage the new center.
About the Abbott Fund in Tanzania
The modernization of the Emergency Medical Department at Muhimbili is the
latest effort in an ongoing partnership between the Abbott Fund and the
Government of Tanzania to strengthen the country's health care system. In 2007,
the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC)
honored the Abbott Fund with an Award for Business Excellence for National
Action for its public-private partnership with the Government of Tanzania. Key
results to date include:
- Improving laboratory services on a national scale by modernizing all 23
regional-level hospital laboratories in Tanzania. Nearly half of the labs have
already been built or renovated, with the full program anticipated to be
completed by the end of 2010.
- At Muhimbili National Hospital, the Abbott Fund built a new outpatient
center that serves about a thousand patients each day and integrates HIV care
with other services, and renovated, automated and computerized the central
pathology laboratory.
- Conducted more than 15,000 health care worker trainings.
- Provided HIV counseling and testing for more than 300,000 people, and
donated 1 million rapid HIV tests to the Tanzanian national HIV testing
initiative.
- Helped more than 150,000 children and families by providing access to
health services, education and training, and pioneering legal protection for
orphans and widows affected by HIV/AIDS.
About Abbott and the Abbott Fund
The Abbott Fund is a philanthropic foundation established by Abbott in 1951.
The Abbott Fund's mission is to create healthier global communities by
investing in creative ideas that promote science, expand access to health care
and strengthen communities worldwide. For more information, visit www.abbottfund.org.
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the
discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and
medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company
employs more than 72,000 people and markets its products in more than 130
countries.
