|
PSI-Tanzania gears up to reaching more rural areas
2008-03-06 09:45:43
By Guardian Correspondent
Developing countries including Tanzania are facing a number of challenges, one of which is ensuring that every citizen gets quality social services such as clean and safe water, good roads and better health services.
These basic services are not available to most of the people for a number of reasons. Poverty has been a drawback to efforts to provide ordinary Tanzanians with the basic social services particularly those in the rural areas. Due to poverty there is inadequate infrastructure that links the urban to the rural areas and as such the latter has been denied these services.
Poor roads, the absence of a railway network and poor communication account for the development gap which exists between the two areas.
The grim picture is compounded by the fact that most of these services and goods are produced or generated in the urban areas while a good number of consumers are located in the rural areas.
Without proper communication infrastructure people in the rural areas cannot access these services.
On the other hand the government has not yet succeeded to realize its intention of improving the infrastructure that would link the urban to rural areas due to lack of funds.
As we all know, roads are important for opening up the development of an area and, with a good road network, the rural population would be able to enjoy the social services like their urban counterparts. Yet roads are expensive to construct.
Likewise construction of dispensaries, health centres and schools requires a lot of money, and this is to say nothing about the costs involved in stocking the health facilities with medicine and equipment and providing them with adequate personnel.
Schools also need to be well equipped and be staffed with competent teachers and other members of staff.
The government simply doesn`t have the money to do all this but the irony is that about 80 percent of Tanzanians live in the rural areas where social services are lacking. They must be reached.
However, realizing its inability to provide these services through its own resources the government has teamed up with development partners and non-governmental organizations so as to improve the infrastructure, with the ultimate aim of enhancing the provision of quality social services to those who live in the rural areas.
It is through this cooperation that we now witness the increasing number of primary and secondary schools and in the pipeline is the construction of a dispensary in every ward in the country.
The government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and with support from various stakeholders intends not only to bring health services closer to communities in the rural areas but also to make sure that these people get appropriate health education in a bid to improve their lives. And this is where PSI-Tanzania comes in.
The organization which started its activities in Tanzania in 1993 focuses on provision of services and education in HIV/AIDS, malaria, diarrhoea diseases and recently launched reproductive health products-in the rural areas.
The services include the supply and distribution of condoms, water-treatment products -WaterGuard and mosquito net treatment product - Ngao.
Yet reaching people who need the services and health education is still a challenge that PSI-Tanzania is facing. Tanzania is a vast country and with the lack of transport network that the country is experiencing, helping all rural Tanzanians access the services is a surmountable problem.
PSI-Tanzania Director of Operations, John Mosha, says that the organization has set up strategies to ensure that services, particularly the distribution of Salama Condoms, reach every corner of this country.
He adds that this would be realized by using funds from the Global Fund which is disbursed through TACAIDS, Royal Netherland Government, Germany Government through KfW, American people just to mention the few.
``To begin with, we have established the Rural Engagement Teams in every region which will be responsible to ensure that all communities in the region get health education and at the same time easily access Salama Condoms,`` Mosha explains.
He adds that the teams will be provided with all the necessary equipment including a Mobile Video Unit and a vehicle that will be suitable for Tanzanian rural roads.
According to the Director, the teams will visit every village to provide health education and distribute the condoms.
They will also demonstrate to the communities how to use them and how to protect themselves from HIV infections and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Speaking about achievements made by PSI-Tanzania, Mosha explains that the organization has done a good job in the distribution of condoms in the country and raising awareness on the importance of using them as a protection against HIV infection.
``In 2006, for example, we distributed 59 million condoms throughout the country and last year the number rose to 63 million condoms.
Considering the strategies we have set up, we are sure that a lot more condoms will be distributed in many villages this year,`` he notes.
|
