In Tanzania, It’s a Fact

FACT: Tanzania is one of the 5 poorest countries in the world.

FACT: Tanzania is one of the 20 countries in the world that make up 80% of the burden of under-nutrition. Almost 4 out of 10 children aged 0-5 years old are stunted and >60% of all children and 50% of all women are anemic.

FACT: HIV/AIDS funds account for 30% of external grants to Tanzania YET people taking anti-retrovirals  (7% of the HIV/AIDS sufferers) require adequate food and often cannot obtain such. On average, HIV infected persons die about 4-12 mos after falling ill w/ one of the major manifestations of AIDS.  Can we  tap into the HIV/AIDS funds for basic nutrition?

FACT: Tanzania is one of Africa’s most politically stable countries. However, it is also one of the least developed, with the majority (58%) of its citizens living below the extreme poverty line of <US$1.00 a day. (Per capita income $330.00)  and 89.9% live on <US$2.00 per day

FACT: Tanzania is bordered by 8 countries and hosts one of the largest refugee population in Africa, at just over 700,000 because of massive refugee influxes from tribal-torn neighboring countries-Burundi, Dem. Rep of the Congo, Rwanda and Somalia, many of whom have settled in the country. Tanzania is Africa’s leading refugee-hosting country.

FACT: Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy (½ the national income, ¾ of merchandise exports) and a source of employment and food for >80% of the population.
Tanzania has 2 rainy seasons and 95% of the agriculture is rainfed. ie. during drought, >80% of the population go hungry.
What about global warming??? It is assessed that a 2 degree rise in temperature could reduce yields of Tanzania’s staple maize crop by as much as 33%.
                                                  Diversify NOW!

FACT: Tanzania has more than 120 ethnic groups yet has continued to enjoy peace since independence unlike most of its neighbors. One language (Kiswahili) taught in schools is a unifying factor

FACT: The main religions are Christianity (45%), Islam (45%)  and  traditional faiths (10%)

FACT: Tanzania:    Area: 886,039 sq km    Pop: 38,139,640
              California:  Area: 410,000 sq km     Pop: 36,457,549 
               ie. California is ½  as big w/ same pop

FACT: California highways: 75,348 km  
              Tanzania: Paved roads: 8,807 km 
Tanzanian households with electricity: 8.5%
No of cell phones in Tanzania: 1.942 million  -love those cell phones  
Radios: 8.8 mill (primary means of communication)
TVs: 103,000 (1997)     Internet users: 333,000 (2005)

FACT: At least 44.4% of the population have a probability of not surviving past 40. (Life expectancy for men and women -  45.9 years). 10 yrs ago it was 52y-that’s the effect of HIV/AIDS

FACT: In 2000, only 55% of  7 year olds were enrolled in primary school.
In 2002 the government waved school fees for primary education
In 2005 net enrollment for boys and girls was up to 95%. (30% of girls never make it to Standard VII-many due to pregnancy especially in rural areas).
This however led to a shortage of teachers with class size of 100 common.
37% of primary schools do not have blackboards and 97% of students do not have books to take home for study. They use the “Chalk and talk” method of teaching.
(HIV/AIDS has impacted education with at least 140,000 teachers dying in the  last two decades.)
Primary teachers salary: US$80/mo Secondary salary: US$150/mo

FACT: <20% (1 in 5) of primary school children even proceed to secondary school and <half of those graduate. (20% of girls drop out due to pregnancy) In 2006 net enrollment in secondary school was 13.4%. eg. In Mvinjeni, 66 out of a class of 92 qualified to go to secondary school but on 16 had the funds to do so

FACT: <1% (.7%) of secondary school students go on to a tertiary institutions  of learning. About 18,000 students are enrolled in university. San Jose State, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego all have undergraduate populations of about 21,000. Tanzania hasa 5 universities and 5 other tertiary education institutions (in Agriculture, Health Sciences Finance Management etc) It has many teacher training institutions.

FACT: In rural Tanzania, compelled by economic need, 1 out of 3 children age 10-14yo work outside the family (sacrificing school time) as rock crushers in local quaries, farm workers (tobacco, coffee, tea, sugarcane and sisal), miners, domestic servants and prostitutes.  In one of the coastal regions, 30% of the sisal plantations workers are children 12-14 yo. That’s 11 hrs/ day , 6 days a week w/ no specific rest periods.

FACT: Overall adult literacy rate for population over 15 = 69.4%. (Afica avr =48%)

FACT: Malaria is the #1 child killer in Tanzania
1 in 5 children <5 years old die of malaria related diseases
Average no. of births/ woman = 5 ie. By average, all mom’s experience 1 death of a child. 80,000 children die annually
58% of kids under age 5 have fever and receive antimalarial drugs
Tanzania has the 3rd largest population (38mill) on earth at risk for malaria
The use of ITN (insecticide treated nets) can reduce child mortality by >40%.
Tanzania’s 3 factories are the largest ITN producers in Africa
>32% of households across Tanzania currently use ITNs
Malaria is the leading cause of inpatient and outpatient consultation and = 30% of the nations health care burden.
Approximately half the population is affected with malaria
One Tanzanian, nearly always a child dies of malaria every 5 minutes. Mothers have anemia, premature births and tiny babies because of it. Parents and children get severe permanent brain damage from it. An many people die from HIV/Aids and other diseases that are made worse by malaria.

FACT: 1 in 7 children die before the age of 5 with 2/3 of deaths within the first 2 yrs of life

FACT: HIV has orphaned nearly a million children who now are raised by their already stretched extended families. HIV has forced others to assume household responsibilities beyond their years to care for their ailing parents and their siblings
School attendance among orphans  73%   non-orphans 90-95%

FACT: Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is also thought to be an important contributor to child deaths in Tanzania (30% transmission rate)
# of people living with HIV:1,400,000
# of kids age 0-14 living w/ HIV: 110,000  (approx 1 in 14 HIV victims)
% of kids (6-9mos) breastfed w/ complementary food: 91%
% of kids (20-23mos) still breastfed: 55%

FACT: The national immunization program (PPT,polio,measles) reaches >90% of all children, also providing Vit A supplementation and deworming.

FACT: Most of the diseases affecting the population are attributable to preventable causes: HIV/AIDS, measles and malnutrition/poor clean water supplies.

FACT: At least 30% of the population is malnourished. 38% of kids <5yo (1 in 3) are chronically malnourished

FACT: 58% of rural and 15% of urban population do not have access to protected     drinking water. Just lack of water leads to poor hygiene –the source of skin and eye disease.
On average women and children spend 2 hrs/day collecting water, while journey of 6-7hrs are not unusual in the central plateau
53% of kids under 5yo have diarrhea and receive oral rehydration
Only 47% have access to latrines.

FACT: As of 2000, >900 Tanzanians are studying in the US. This places Tanzania in 6th place in Africa.

FACT: HIV has a prevalence rate of 6.7% in adults 15-49. Only 7% of those infected are receiving anti-retroviral medication. More than half of all available hospital beds are occupied by HIV-infected people.

FACT: The spread of HIV/AIDS is the single most impoverishing force facing people and households in Tanzania today. It is the leading cause of adult mortality especially among women.(who fail to protect themselves ((contraception prevalence = 26%)) from infection due to economic hardship, repressive customary laws, beliefs and polygamy) If left unchecked it will have a 25% negative affect  on Tanzanian economy by 2015.

FACT: Women constitute the main agricultural labor force. 85% of farming is by hand tools.

FACT: Only 45% of women attending prenatal clinics were seen by qualified personnel

FACT:  There is one doctor and 18 nurses / 20,000 people. (A critical shortage in health care workers) Only 27% of births in rural areas were attended by a qualified health care worker. Maternal mortality is up from 1996 to 5.78/1000. Rural dwellers follow their communities’ beliefs, seeking a traditional healer to deliver babies in a “natural” wau sing herbs and age-old methods.
“I began walking when I felt contractions. I delivered on the roadside 5 km from the hospital,” says 22yo Veronica. “My mother helped. We put the placenta in a plastic bag and arrived at the hospital. But I feel fine.” Looking unruffled, she sits on the edge of the bed she shares w/ 2 other women and their infants in a crammed one-room maternity ward of the Dodma Regional Hospital in Tanzania’s capital city.

So when/where are we going to do HIV/AIDS teaching??????

FACT: Rural population: 77.4%  Urban population: 22.6%
             Urban unemployment rate: 20% Urban youth unemployment rate: 40%

FACT: Creation has abundantly blessed Tanzania: tropical beaches, great lakes ( Lake Victoria, the world’s 2nd largest fresh water lake; Lake Tanganyika, the world’s 2nd deepest fresh water lake); Mt Kilimanjaro, the world’s tallest free standing mountain and game reserves like the Serengeti.

FACT: Although Africa’s 3 great rivers, the Nile, the Congo and the Zambezi, originate from Tanzania, the country has few permanent rivers resulting in an annual 6 mos period of dryness.

FACT: In 1998 (the most current stats available) the Catholic Church had 413 kindergartens, 82 secondary schools including 23 junior seminaries, 73 technical and vocational schools, 48 homecraft centers for girls, 2 teacher training colleges and 6 schools for the handicapped.. In the medical sector the Church runs 36 hospitals including the 850-bed consultant hospital in Bugando and 223 health centers and dispensaries.

FACT: 20 of the 120 ethnic groups perform FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) which affects 18% of the female population in Tanzania. In some ethinic groups FGM is compulsory while in others a girls who has not undergone the ritual may not be able to marry

FACT: % of gov’t expenditures allocated to Health: 6%  Education: 8% Defence: 16%

FACT: Tanzanian Heath System Facilities (according to care level hierarchy)

Note: Where do most Tanzanians interface with heath care and what kind of service do they get?

Remember this Tanzanian Saying:   If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito!