Government plans national health data centre, Magembe
ARUSHA: PERMANENT Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Grace Magembe has said the government will continue working with the private sector to improve healthcare services, including learning from and adopting its experience to strengthen services for citizens.
Speaking during the Second International Primary Health Care (PHC) Conference 2026 at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) in Arusha, Dr Magembe said public-private cooperation was important because the private sector had developed considerable experience in patient care, digital systems and improving customer experience.
“The government has learned a lot from the private sector. What we are now doing is ensuring that systems used in the private sector and those operated by the government can communicate through interoperability,” she said.
Dr Magembe said the government was also working to reduce the number of different digital systems used in the health sector, ensuring existing systems can communicate and exchange information efficiently.
She said improved interoperability would strengthen healthcare delivery by enabling information to move more efficiently between systems and supporting better use of available data.
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The government is also preparing a National Health Data Centre to facilitate the collection and integration of health information from various sources.
The centre is expected to enable access to health information from a single source for research, clinical trials and other professional activities.
Dr Magembe said access to the information would be guided by users’ roles and levels of need, ensuring that data is accessed according to professional requirements.
She described the initiative as part of broader government efforts to strengthen the use of technology and data, while enhancing cooperation with the private sector to improve healthcare services for citizens.
