Taining for rural health in Tanzania

Abstract

Following President Nyerere's Arusha Declaration in 1967, which set out the path towards a socialist and self-reliant society, the Tanzanian government has clearly shown its commitment to a socialist plan by giving priority to the development of rural areas, where 95 per cent of the people live. Accordingly, it has change its health policy, more than any other African country, to give it a rural bias. Thus, it has altered the country's first health structure, which was largely an urban-based hospital system, in four ways [2]. First, by emphasizing the training of rural staff, particularly the medical auxiliaries. Thirdly, by establishing village health services especially in ujamaa vilages [3] (communal villages) where part-time personnel knwon as village medical helpers (similar to some extent to the Chines barefoot doctors) provide simple medical and public health care. And, fourthly, by introducing mobile health teams consisting of health workers of alll institutions, with the aim of extending their outreach to remote areas.