Palliative Care in Tanzania



Pictured left to right: Dr Paul Mmbando, Kris Linner, Mel Sullivan, Michele Hermansen, Ms Nosim Peter, Daudi Msseemmaa

Yesterday we were invited by Daudi Msseemmaa, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) representative to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) where we met Dr. Paul Mmbando Health Program Director, and Ms Nosim Peter.

They shared details about the comprehensive programs the church is involved in including: Palliative care, Reproductive issues, gender violence, infection control, development of health professionals (with an emphasis of MD to serve in rural areas)

The ELCT has 3 primary ministries which are mission/evangelism, education, and healing.  The church has 8.5 million members with 5,000 congregations and it continues to grow.   The church’s focus on social service is impressive with 300 institutions including 120 training institutions.  The mission of the church is to support the most vulnerable.  The church grown from 5,000 members in 1963 to an estimate of 10 million today. 

In Tanzania 70% of the population are youth.  USAID helped support 160,000 orphans and that support was recently terminated in one day without any warning.

The primary focus of our conversation was on palliative care.   According to the World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care as:  

“Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness.  It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification, correct assessment, and treatment of pain and other problems, where physical, psychosocial or spiritual.”

In Tanzania palliative care was expanded  in 2004 following the model of Selian Hospice. Initially it was developed to deal with the AIDS epidemic.  It is estimated that 187,940 people died of AIDS related causes in Tanzania in 2004.   The cumulative AIDS related deaths in Tanzania are estimated to be roughly between 1.36 million to 1.73 million over the last two decades.

Currently there are 50 palliative care programs across Tanzania with most of them started in faith based facilities.  Only 8% of individuals have health insurance.   Selian Palliative Care and Hospice remains a model program in Tanzania.

The education our team is presenting is only one of two certificate programs on palliative care throughout Tanzania this year.

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