The Challenge in Context
It is hard for people in the US and other industrialized countries to imagine the challenges of basic health care in sub-Saharan Africa.

Can you imagine walking 5 miles to the nearest health center?
In Tanzania, most people are within five miles of a health facility. However, since 85% of the population lives in rural areas with rugged roads and little or no transportation, the trip can be taxing.  Pregnant women who have started labor may need to walk or bike to the nearest health facility. In such cases, the road be prohibitively far, not to mention dangerous, during the night.

All too often, the journey to health care does not end when the patient arrives at the clinic. A patient may find that the drugs to treat malaria, for example, are not in stock. Or, a patient may have to wait for hours because the clinic does not have enough doctors or nurses to go around. There are fewer health workers and health clinics in rural areas; therefore training more health workers – and ensuring that rural health posts are filled – is critical.

Creative solutions – such as providing bicycles for community health workers and call centers to gain second opinions on complicated cases – are also paramount, especially in rural areas. The Who Cares? Campaign emphasizes the need to bring care “to the last mile.”

Can you imagine a hospital without clean water?
Many health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa have no running water. Every type of health facility – from large, urban hospitals to small, rural clinics – needs a functioning and reliable water supply, electricity and communication equipment to provide adequate care. Health workers require this basic infrastructure to ensure proper hygiene and safety when caring for patients.

Unfortunately, one or more of these elements is often lacking in Tanzanian health facilities, particularly in rural areas. For example, only 50% of Tanzanian public health facilities receive electricity from the grid that makes it impossible to refrigerate sensitive items, like blood used in transfusions, or conduct safe operations.

Health workers also depend on communication tools like cell phones or the Internet to refer patients to facilities with greater specialization, to place orders for drugs and equipment, and to share medical knowledge. The Touch Foundation is working to address these infrastructure and communication challenges so that health workers can do their jobs.

Can you imagine teaching without books or computers?
In sub-Saharan Africa, medical education is constrained by a lack of resources for research, technology to benefit from medical advancements, and Internet connectivity to participate in global academic exchanges. For this reason, frustrated students and professors often seek positions abroad. Opportunities to enhance professional development and working conditions are therefore urgently needed to recruit and retain faculty at medical schools.

At the Weill Bugando University in Mwanza, Tanzania, the Touch Foundation is working in collaboration with local leaders to radically expand and strengthen what has become the second largest medical school in Tanzania. The university is affiliated with the second largest regional hospital in the country, the Bugando Medical Centre, serving a population of fifteen million people in the Lake Zone.

One of the critical ways in which the Touch Foundation is assisting Bugando is by addressing attrition of faculty and other highly-skilled professionals to urban centers and other countries. This phenomenon – commonly referred to as “brain drain” – can be reduced by creating incentives and improving facilities for students and faculty alike.

The Touch Foundation is helping to overcome some of these constraints now by purchasing new computers for the university, replacing Internet wiring and setting up access to electronic medical journals. But there is more to do in the immediate future in order to create a greater incentive for staff to stay in Africa instead of immigrating to a western nation with better equipped classrooms, higher paid jobs and greater research opportunities.

Can you imagine living in a town of 30,000 people where there is only one doctor?
There are only five medical schools in Tanzania, so your support for Bugando University via the Touch Foundation makes a huge impact! In 2008, the first ten medical students – and 135 other cadres of health workers – graduated; Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete was the guest of honor at the ceremony.

The university has grown in leaps and bounds; 286 doctors will graduate and begin practicing medicine within the next five years. This more than doubles the current number of doctors in the Lake Zone region. To put this in perspective, there are just 1,339 doctors in all of Tanzania and only 10 pediatricians!

Can you imagine saving the life of a pregnant woman with malaria?
A pregnant woman has a high risk of suffering miscarriages or fatal consequences if infected with malaria because her immune system is much weaker than when she is not carrying a baby. About 1.7 pregnant women contract malaria while pregnant annually in the world and countless complications result. In order to protect the lives of these women and their children, health workers are needed! A doctor such as Stella, a nurse, or other health worker has many crucial roles. For example, in the case of malaria, health workers prevent malaria by distributing bed-nets and educating the community, diagnose and treat the disease, and provide care during complicated pregnancies caused by malaria or other conditions.

MEET STELLA >
one of our first graduates; she now works at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza, Tanzania and is giving back to her country everyday.