Tanzania

Tanzania, an East African country with a population of 57.3 million, had a 2016 life expectancy of 62 and 66 for males and females, respectively. Due to large swaths of the population living in rural areas, access to healthcare can be challenging and in 2014, $137 was spent on health per capita.¹

In 2018 - 2019, with support from Assist International and funding from the GE Foundation, SPECT provided a training program for 74 health care workers responsible for sterile processing practices in 38 facilities in the Kagera and Mara regions of northwestern Tanzania. In addition, SPECT held a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop for 34 workers, equipping them with the knowledge base necessary to train their colleagues in sterile processing techniques.

"Sepsis has really decreased for patients. After a procedure, even when a woman has a caesarean section, she will go home without complaints because we have been cleaning instruments well and have sterilized them. Before the training our sepsis rate after procedures was very high. Women would come back with open wounds". - Training participant

Research findings on the impact of our training in Tanzania can be found in the Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control journal.

¹ WHO (2020) Republic of Tanzania. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/countries/tza/en/

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