Tanzania discusses strategies to deal with emergencies

KAGERA: THE GOVERNMENT through the Ministry of Health, Department of Emergency Management in collaboration with other Government Institutions responsible for dealing with emergencies, have met together to discuss sustainable strategies to prevent and deal with emergencies when they occur.

The working session was held in Kagera region involving the Ministry of Health, Prime Minister’s Office, Regional State Administration and Local Government, Department of Health, Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA), Fire and Rescue Service, Police Force, Immigration Department, Agriculture and Livestock, Ports Authority, Ruwasa, Red Cross, and Officers from the Mutukula border.

Speaking at the working session, the Administrative Secretary of Kagera Region, Stephen Ndaki said, Kagera region is among the strategic regions in dealing with emergencies, including disease outbreaks and environmental ones.

“The geography of Kagera region is one of interaction between people from different nations, so due to this interaction, the possibility of disasters including epidemics is also high,” said Ndaki.

He added that despite the Government continuing to take precautions to deal with disease outbreaks, there are other disasters resulting from climate change including floods, earthquakes, road, air and water accidents, and others that should be put in place sustainable strategies to deal with them when they occur.

He stressed that through the working session conducted by emergency disaster experts, it will help to prepare joint strategies to prevent these disasters from occurring and strategies to deal with them when they occur.

For his part, the Coordinator-Impact and Disaster Management from the Ministry of Health, Dr Saumu Nungu said the main objective of the working session is to classify all possible emergencies in order to plan the best way to prevent them from occurring and deal with them when they occur.

“Through this session, we will prepare an assessment and calendar that will enable us to identify dangerous times that will help us take early action and raise awareness, namely the ‘Regional Risk Profile & Calendar'”, said Dr. Saumu.

She added that other strategies that will be discussed include the creation of emergency disaster monitoring teams (surveillance teams) and the creation of a strategy to respond to emergency disasters for the Kagera region.

And the Chief Medical Officer of Kagera, Dr Samwel Laizer said that the session will build the capacity of the regional team to respond to emergency disasters so that they have the ability to identify dangerous times early, including disease outbreaks by identifying the source of the disease, groups at risk of being affected and taking early precautions.