Since the 1960s it has been a dream of the people of Buhumbi, Magu District, Mwanza Region, Tanzania to have their own dispensary, but a lack of resources always prevented this from happening.

On 5th October, Nobuhiro Kadoi, Senior Program Officer, JOICFP, attended the opening ceremony of the new Buhumbi dispensary, funded in part by JOICFP.

The people of Buhumbi provided the labor, transportation of building materials, bricks, the Magu District Council provided ceiling board, wire mesh, and mosquito gauze, and funding through JOICFP's Domestic Campaign paid for the timber, nails, cement and corrugated iron roof.

The Family Planning Association of Tanzania (UMATI) facilitated the project, and encouraged the District Council Health Management Team (CHMT) to appoint staff to run the dispensary. This will make it easier for the dispensary to be supported by the local government with a view to sustainability.

Delighted villagers gather outside the new dispensary
in Buhumbi

New project site

In the new project site of Musoma Rural District, started earlier this year, training has just been completed for Community-based Service Providers (CBSPs), in conjunction with CHMT. The involvement of CHMT from the project inception means that activities can be more easily mainstreamed and so be sustainable since CHMT will supervise the volunteers.

As health provision is being decentralized in Tanzania, JOICFP is encouraging UMATI to be involved in the planning stage of district health program, drawing on Zambia's successful example.

UMATI is now able to utilize its expertise in training and community mobilization involving CHMT as much as possible.

A recently trained CBSP with a bicycle donated
by JOICFP in Nyankanga, Musoma Rural District