“I am personally very happy and I know a lot of people are happy because they got a chance to do the TB screening for free and it has impacted a lot of people in a very short period….”. This was a part of the response from one of the Medical Assistants named Sophia Mbwana (55) who has been in service for 36 years.
When the mobile clinic arrived at Sakami village in Kondoa, Dodoma region, the leaders announced to the community members about the free TB screening. Many people were screened, received their results and treatment for those who were found sick. The medical service providers including clinical officers were excited to provide the X-Ray TB Screening as it gives the results within a very short time compared to the past practice of using the laboratories, which consumes both time and resources. Sophia shared a testimony on how in a single day, with the mobile clinic, she was able to attend about 35 clients, where 24 of them were diagnosed with TB.
According to Sophia, the mobile clinic brought great relief to the people of Sakami village. Apart from its geography of beautiful hills and valleys around the village, it is very challenging for the people to access medical services owing to the challenging infrastructure and transportation systems. People traveled from as far as 60 km to come for such services. “One patient came from Hondomairo village, which is more than 60kms from here to be screened and he was found TB positive,” says Sophia.
According to Clinical Officer Ashraf Adam (32), the mobile clinic has reached people that feared going to hospitals. “In normal cases, most people wouldn’t go to the hospital for TB screening but this has been different because the mobile clinic has experienced medical practitioners and it is free,” he said. He also mentioned that they see some cases of relapse and he believes that more education on TB needs to reach out to the people as most villagers aren’t aware of the signs of TB and the measures that they should take.
The villagers appreciated the service. “I am grateful for the mobile clinic service from Amref. They have been supporting us on health matters, my community is very happy and thankful to Global Fund support through Amref Tanzania” said Sofia Ramadhani (34) CHW at Sakami Village. She also requested more medical equipment and the mobile clinic service to be present after every few months.
Amref Health Africa in Tanzania through its three years (2021-2023) Global Fund HIV/TB programme in collaboration with the Management and Development for Health (MDH) as a sub-recipient implements, the Community Health Systems Strengthening Approach to Improve New TB Case Finding. Through the Ministry of Health Mobile Van for TB screening, the Global Fund programme contributed to 1,676 TB cases out of 8,573 TB cases (20%) that were notified through Mobile Van Campaigns in the eight regions includingDodoma, Mara, Simiyu, Tanga, Kagera, Mbeya, Ruvuma, and Shinyanga. The Global fund programme has been successful in its efforts to improve TB Case findings through Community health systems strengthening approach.
