Saving billions through screening

There is a need to sensitise people to take preventive measures. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The country can apply the saying strategically and save billions of shillings in return, she says.

Dar es Salaam. The old adage, “Prevention is better than cure,’’ may sound simple but according to Dr Happiness Willbroad, if put in practice, it can help solve health challenges that have always been believed to be complex. The country can apply the saying strategically and save billions of shillings in return, she says.

Dr Willbroad, an expert in public health, believes that the ShSh269 billion that Tanzania spends every year on treating preventable diseases could have been saved if people in communities were sensitised on the importance of taking up preventive measures against certain infectious diseases. The doctor envisions Tanzanian communities where health workers can move door to door, screening people for tuberculosis and carrying out HIV testing; as a strategy that can potentially come with huge financial returns to the country, if fully implemented.

What she says has worked in three regions of the country—Katavi, Kigoma and Tabora; where health workers, through Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and Community Volunteers (CV) are providing health services using the same approach.

The three regions are highly burdened by tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, thus, organizations such as Benjamin Mkapa Foundation (BMF) and Save the Children have explored how community volunteers and CBOs can be key drivers in preventing the diseases through early screening.

In these regions, community volunteers have been providing active door to door TB screening and HIV testing, together with advocacy on prevention of the disease.

Dr Happiness Willbroad, who is also BMF program manager says the CBOs and CVs are in a good position to encourage people in communities to take up prevention measures against the infectious diseases.

She says that earlier, it proved difficult to diagnose people of TB or have them test for HIV because they were not ready to share their status or information about such diseases.

“But when we started involving CBOs, we began to see an increasing number of people seeking the services. We have now tested at least 66,000 people for HIV and 1, 800 confirmed TB patients in Katavi, Rukwa and Tabora,” she said.

She further noted that historically, healthcare projects with strong community involvement have been more successful, considering such bottom-up approaches often gain more acceptance by local populations than top-down, government-imposed solutions. Recently, the Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Ms Ummy Mwalimu announced to train 30,000 Community Based Health Workers (CBHW) by 2020 in an effort to bridge the gaps in the shortage of health workers that the country is currently facing and to reduce medical cost.

She said that instead of spending Sh269 billion every year, to treat patients it was better to train community workers who would move around the community and sensitize people on preventions of disease.

“So far we have 51 per cent of the medical experts that we need, those include radiologists, doctors, and nurses; therefore if we train more CBHW the number will complement the 49 per cent shortage,’’ she says.

She further explains that the regions Katavu, Kigoma and Kagera are facing a more acute shortage of health workers, hence the need for urgent interventions.