THE US government has expanded its anti-malaria support to Tanzania with the handover of key tools to support case workers in southern Tanzania including Lindi Region.
Through the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Dhibiti (Control) Malaria project, which is jointly implemented by USAID and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC, the US provided nearly 47.5m/- worth of bicycles, smart phones, scales, thermometers, and other tools to 75 integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) providers from nine councils in the Lindi, Mtwara, Ruvuma, and Coast regions of Tanzania.
Recruited with the participation of leaders from their respective communities and trained with support provided in partnership with PMI, the newly trained iCCM providers now have the tools they need to better diagnose and treat Malaria, Pneumonia, and Diarrhea in children in some of southern Tanzania’s most underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
Speaking at the handover event, Lindi Regional Administrative Secretary Zuwena Omary thanked the US for reducing the Malaria burden in the region and expressed the government’s appreciation for the generosity of the American people and for their continued support to organizations that implement malaria programs in Tanzania.
“We believe iCCM providers will complement facility level support services, contribute to reducing malaria, and move toward the long-term goal of malaria elimination,” said USAID Project Specialist Albert Ikonje speaking at the handover event.
Since 2006, the US government has contributed more than 747 million US dollars (about 2tri/-) to combat malaria, aligning its support with Tanzania’s national strategic efforts.
This support has contributed to a drop in malaria prevalence from 14 per cent in 2015 to eight per cent in 2022, according to the 2022 Tanzania Demographic Health Survey/Malaria Indicator Survey.
PMI Dhibiti (Control) Malaria, a 27 million US dollars project (about 70.6bn/-), implemented by Population Services International Tanzania, runs from 2022–2027.
