Arusha — A SPECIAL survey aimed at improving Primary Health Care in Rural Tanzania has been conducted in the five mainland regions, including Tanga, Mtwara, Singida and Shinyanga.
Opening the Consensus Building Meeting on Family Nurse Practitioners for Rural Tanzania, the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Kebwe Stephen-Kebwe, revealed that the aim of the study was to determine the need of task shifting of some duties carried out by clinicians to nurse practitioners in Tanzania.
The survey involved managers, nurses, health workers and consumers of health services and the overall results from the study revealed that clinicians or prescribers are inadequate to serve the rural population in Tanzania.
"The strategies employed in training nurses in the country have so far been effective but not sufficient to meet the needs of all Tanzanians, especially those residing in rural communities," said the Deputy Health Minister.
He added that the government has been making deliberate efforts to train and allocate clinicians in urban and rural areas.
"However, the number of trained medical personalities is still not adequate to serve the targeted population especially in remote areas where even private health facilities are never present," said Dr Kebwe.
He stated that the ultimate goal was to increase the number of well-trained nurses in order to satisfy the needs. The Deputy Minister told the delegates: "The introduction of nurse practitioner cadre may reduce the gap of clinicians in the rural settings where the demand is greater.
"As professionals, it is critical that you get empowered through continued training to deliver appropriate, effective and quality medical care to the citizens of Tanzania."
The Consensus Building Meeting was organised by the Moshi-based, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in association with the Duke University of Nursing and Teamwork City of Hope, where it was observed that Tanzania is among African countries that are training nurses and midwives at different levels.
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