TZ improves social services
TANZANIA has recorded sounding interventions in advancing education and healthcare access to all people in pursuit of the Sustainable development Goals (SDGs) Three and Four.
The SDG Three stands for good health and wellbeing while goal Four stresses quality education.
Earlier, President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan unveiled the government’s significant milestone in achieving the SDGs, while opening the 11th Merck Foundation Africa-Asia Luminary Conference in Dar es Salaam which is rooted on boosting education and healthcare across Africa.
Reflecting on Tanzania’s health and education milestones, President Samia said the sixth phase government from 2021 to 2023 has been investing in over 127 district hospitals and 367 healthcare facilities countrywide in efforts of strengthening medical care availability.
More significantly, she detailed that the number of health facilities which provide child and maternal services increased from 340 in 2021 to over 500 by the end 2023.
She said such intensive investment in health services resulted in drop of maternal death to 104 per 100,000 in 2022 from 556 per 100,000 in 2015 equivalent to the decrease of over 80 per cent.
Equally, she said childbirth dropped from 67 per 1000 live births to 43 per 1000 live births insisting a lot still has to be done to further upgrade medical care.
She underlined Tanzania’s commitment to continue cooperating with the Foundation which focuses on accelerating transformation of education and health service in Africa and Asia saying the collaboration with the Non-Government Organisation is too aligned to the SDG 17 which calls for partnership for the goals.
President Samia commended the foundation’s significant impact on healthcare and education across Africa and Asia.
Moreover, the Head of State praised the Merck Foundation for its dedication to empowering health systems and expressed Tanzania’s pride in collaborating with the foundation.
“In just a few years of partnership, we have seen notable progress, with around 70 Tanzanian medical professionals benefiting from advanced medical training through Merck Foundation’s programmes. We value this partnership and look forward to deepening it further,” she said.
She acknowledged the Merck Foundation’s support in training medical professionals, noting the need for continued collaboration to ensure many other medical specialists are trained to meet expanding healthcare infrastructure demands.
On boosting education accessibility, President Samia applauded the Merck Foundation’s Linda programme, which supports girls’ education and empowerment.
In fulfilling the common goal, she emphasised Tanzania’s strides in education, mentioning that over 3,000 primary schools and 500 secondary schools have been constructed in the past three years, bringing the total to 25,533 primary and 6,269 secondary schools.
This expansion has increased primary school enrolment from 10.6 million in 2021 to 11.4 million in 2024, with secondary enrolment rising from 2.38 million to over 3 million in the same period.
Meanwhile, Minister for Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Dr Dorothy Gwajima, said that Tanzania has established a conducive policy and legal environment to promote gender equality and empower women and girls in the country.
“This is great work of President Samia, in shaping Tanzania to align well with the agenda for women and girls’ development. That is why based on these success criteria, the world has come here today, along with the wives of presidents from 15 nations, to acknowledge this work and bring this conference to Tanzania because of your exemplary leadership,” she said.
Dr Gwajima highlighted four areas where President Samia has made significant improvements, earning international recognition.
These include the National Gender Development Policy and the Women’s Development Policy of 2023, which aim to enhance women’s participation in leadership, decision-making and access to resources and opportunities across all sectors, including health, education and economic empowerment.
The Chairman of the Merck Foundation Board of Trustees, Prof Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, expressed that the foundation is committed to enhancing the overall health and wellbeing of people by building healthcare capacity across Africa, Asia and other developing countries.
