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Management and Development for Health through the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Data for Health hands over ICT equipment’s to boost disease surveillance at Tanzania’s borders.

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Dar es Salaam – The U.S. government, through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is handing over Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment for disease surveillance at Tanzania’s borders. The donation is being made in collaboration with the Management and Development for Health (MDH) as part of the U.S. Government’s support to the Ministry of Health in mainland Tanzania for earlier detection of diseases in all travelers in and out of the country.

Since 2015, the U.S government has supported the Government of Tanzania (GOT) in improving border health measures at points of entry (POE) in response to outbreaks of public health events. The goal is to improve the ability to detect and prevent the importation or exportation of diseases and minimize disruptions by public health threats to travel, trade and tourism, thus aligning with International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities and the mission of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). While Tanzania has 54 official borders with eight different countries, numerous and porous borders with its neighbors pose a high risk of disease transmission. CDC in Tanzania supports border health capacities implementation.

CDC also supported GOT to upgrade the electronic traveler’s surveillance portal called AfyaMsafiri to enhance detection of ill travelers and potential contact tracing where necessary, ensuring compliance to the Trusted Travelers Program within the African Union and East Africa Community. Other emergency support for POE included:

  • Surge support for 40 staff at JNIA for enhanced laboratory screening (Entry, Exit)
  • Additional trainings of 86 health and non-health staff on Recognize, Isolate, Notify, and Give Support (RING) cards entry, and exit screening and crowd control to minimize the risk of disease spread.
  • Electronic equipment and onsite COVID-19 screening booths for travelers.

The  supported ICT equipment is  worth 181,130,000 Tanzanian shillings (Tsh), approximately $77,500 USD. This equipment includes desktop computers (13), laptops (12), UPS (18) for desktop computers, tablets (11), printers (8), tables (13), chairs (20), booths (11), stabilizers (6), extension cables (3), and Wi-Fi routers (4).

Management Development for Health (MDH) Chief Executive Officer Dr David Sando expressed that through CDC funds they will continue supporting the government development and maintenance of surveillance systems as per ministry of health requirements and guidelines.

“Through our partnership we have donated the equipment at the country is surrounded by many boarders thus pausing alot of risks from transmitted diseases. The system will detect Monkey pox, COVID-19, Ebola and other emerging disease”,he said.

These items delivered will be distributed to seven points of entry (Namanga, Horohoro, Mutukula, Rusumo, Kabanga, Murongo and Dar es Salaam Sea Port) through the Data for Health (D4H) project which started in year 2020 and aims at supporting the health information system development, project management, and coordinating deployment for national HIV and health sector systems in Tanzania under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The CDC representative Dr. George Mgomella stated that CDC Tanzania through Global Health Security Agenda supports the Government of Tanzania to improve border health measures at point of entry to track and detect outbreak or other public health events. “We have worked with the Ministry of Health and President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government to support upgrading the AfyaMsafiri system and development of a port of entry module in electronic integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System to facilitate the capture and visualization of public health events” he explained

Speaking at the handing over event, the  guest of honour, National Institute for Medical Research Director General Prof Said Aboud said: “We want to express our sincere thanks to the American Government for being a champion of the Global Health Security Agenda that aim to protect the globe from public health threats. We want to thank you and assure you that this support has come in a right time when the country is struggling to enhance measures against Ebola and other ongoing outbreaks in the World. May I urge all port health incharges of the supported points of entry to protect these devices and utilize them according to the intended purposes”.

The donated equipment will further strengthen the Afya Msafiri electronic system readiness to manage health information of visitors entering and leaving Tanzania. The use of this system improves disease surveillance at Tanzanian borders and ensures that disease outbreaks such as COVID-19, Ebola, Monkeypox, or other infectious diseases that may endanger the public are detected at the earliest point of entry.  CDC continues to work to support Tanzania in ensuring detection and containment of health threats between countries.