Dar es Salaam — The Aga Khan University's nursing and midwifery education programmes has received funding from the government of Germany to develop region-wide accreditation for curricula for health professionals in the region.

The German Ambassador in Tanzania, Mr Klaus-Peter Brandes has signed a bilateral grant agreement in Arusha last week in the tune of Tsh19bn ($12m) with the Secretary General of the East African Community (EAC), Dr. Richard Sezibera in support the university's health programmes.

In this agreement, EAC is the receipt of the funds while Aga Khan University, a pioneer in nursing education will be the project executive agency."The project comprises the construction and renovation of two university buildings and a student's residential accommodation as well as course material for nurses' and midwives' education," Dr Sezibera said.

Furthermore, he added, the project aims at supporting EAC in its objective to develop region-wide accreditation for curricula for health professionals.

According to Ambassador Brandes, activities in this project, will initially be focused on Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and will then be expanded to Rwanda and Burundi in a subsequent phase to implement the agreement.The project is expected to boost number of nurses and midwives which are the backbone of the health care delivery system in the region.According to Tanzania Nursing and Midwifery Council (TNMC), there are more than 28,000 licensed nurses, comprising of more than 60% of all the health work force in the country and the major stakeholder in health care delivery systemThe size of the nursing-midwifery school classes in Tanzania is rapidly shrinking, and the shortage of midwives is felt throughout the country. According to the 2010 Tanzania Demographic Health Survey, only half of births in Tanzania are attended by skilled health personnel.