Elizabeth Mapella: prioritising adolescent health in Tanzania

Abstract

In Tanzania as in many sub-Saharan African countries the evolution of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has brought into stark relief the need for policies to protect the health of adolescents a group frequently lost to health services. But for Elizabeth Mapella who since 1998 has been working to improve the countrys adolescent and reproductive health services through her work in the ministry of health the problems afflicting this age-group have long been a cause for concern: "I want to know why young people are suffering and what to do to make a difference. And that curiosity is also part of what makes me continue to work in this area." Becoming a doctor was the realisation of an ambition Mapella had held since a hospital visit when she was 14 years old. "When I was young I had an attack of malaria and I was taken by my parents for treatment in a nearby centre. I was so impressed by the clinician who attended me and from then on my ambition was to be a doctor" she explains. Although adolescent healthwas not regarded as a specialist area when she was doing her clinical training through her obstetric training and modules on child health she began to realise that there was a real need for services that adolescents felt comfortable using: "In that age bracket I started to see how severe the problem is--especially when they are pregnant" Mapella says. (excerpt)