DISEASE surveillance at the country's points of entry got boost over the weekend, with a donation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment.
The donation was made over the weekend in Dar es Salaam by the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) through the Management and Development for Health (MDH) as part of the US government's support to the Ministry of Health for earlier detection of diseases in all travelers in and out of the country.
Chief Executive Officer of the MDH, Dr David Sando, said the donation aims at supporting the health information system development and coordinating deployment for national HIV and health sector systems in Tanzania under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Since 2015, the US government has supported the government in improving border health measures at points of entry (POE) in response to outbreaks of public health events.
The goal was to improve the ability to detect and prevent the importation or exportation of diseases and minimise disruptions by public health threats to travel, trade and tourism, thus aligning with International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities and the mission of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).
CDC also supported the government to upgrade the electronic traveler's surveillance portal called AfyaMsafiri to enhance detection of ill travelers and potential contact tracing where necessary, ensuring compliance to the Trusted Travelers Programme within the African Union and East Africa Community.
Director General of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Prof Said Aboud, said while Tanzania has 54 official borders with eight different countries, numerous and porous borders with its neighbors pose a high risk of disease transmission. CDC in Tanzania supports border health capacities implementation.
The ongoing Ebola outbreak, Covid-19 in different parts of the world including neighboiring countries put the country at high risk.
"Experiences show that strengthening health surveillance at borders contains or delays transmission of pandemic," Prof Aboud pointed out.
He said Implementation and operationalization of 'Afyamsafiri' system require infrastructure such as computers, internet and other ICT equipment.
"The support we receive today will strengthen and enable effective use of digital system at points of entry," he noted.
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The ICT equipment, worth 181m/-, include desktop computers (13), laptops (12), UPS (18) for desktop computers, tablets (11), printers (8), tables (13), chairs (20), booths (11), stabilizers (6), extension cables (3), and Wi-Fi routers (4).
These items will be distributed to seven points of entry (Namanga, Horohoro, Mutukula, Rusumo, Kabanga, Murongo and Dar es Salaam Sea Port) through the Data for Health (D4H) project which started in year 2020 and aims at supporting the health information system development, project management, and coordinating deployment for national HIV and health sector systems in Tanzania under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
The equipment provided will further strengthen the Afya Msafiri electronic system readiness to manage health information of visitors entering and leaving Tanzania.
The use of this system improves disease surveillance at Tanzanian borders and ensures that disease outbreaks such as Covid-19, Ebola, Monkeypox, or other infectious diseases that may endanger the public are detected at the earliest point of entry.
