Touch signs agreement with US government
In a small ceremony presided over by President Kikwete at our dinner in September, Touch signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, which manages the $15 billion President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).
USAID is the principal US government agency delivering foreign aid to developing and disaster-affected countries, providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide. Over the last decade, USAID has invested more than $534 million in Tanzania.
PEPFAR supports integrated prevention, treatment and care programs to combat HIV/AIDS around the world, and is the largest commitment ever made by any nation to an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease. Working in over 120 countries, it focuses on those fifteen that have been particularly affected by HIV/AIDS and collectively account for more than 50% of the world’s HIV infections. As one of the fifteen priority countries, Tanzania received over $200 million from PEPFAR for HIV/AIDS programs in the past fiscal year.
The MOU, which establishes a partnership between Touch, USAID and PEPFAR to improve health care and treatment in Tanzania, was signed by PEPFAR head Ambassador Mark Dybul, the Assistant Administrator of Africa Bureau for USAID, Katherine Almquist, and Touch president Lowell Bryan. Also in attendance for the signing ceremony were US government representatives Barbara Addy, British Robinson and Pam White, who is also Mission Director for USAID in Tanzania.
Formalizing our partnership for an initial duration of three years, the MOU outlines our intention to share our “respective strengths, experience, technologies, methodologies and resources in order to improve human resources for health (healthcare workers) in Tanzania.” The MOU identifies key points of collaboration through which we will seek to increase healthcare workers at all levels, and address policy and practical issues that will enable the necessary placement and retention of those newly trained in the Tanzanian health system.
Specific objectives include increasing the number of healthcare workers in Tanzania and facilitating their placement in critical geographies, improving training capacity and quality, addressing national policy issues to improve HIV/AIDS care and treatment, and achieving lasting and sustainable improvements for the general health of the Tanzanian population, with a focus on key health indicators such as maternal and child health, malaria and HIV/AIDS.
We are delighted to formalize our collaboration with the US Government, and look forward to working closely with them to effect sustainable change for healthcare in Tanzania.