(PORTLAND, OR) November 10, 2021 – Medical Teams International is grateful to the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) for its award of $3.49 million USD to support Medical Teams’ ongoing work to provide comprehensive and timely medical care to refugees and host populations in Tanzania.

Since 2017, Medical Teams has served Congolese and Burundian refugees in remote northwestern Tanzania (Kigoma region) in the Mtendeli and Nyarugusu camps. Tanzania’s overwhelmed national health system (facing understaffing, inadequate supplies, and ill-equipped facilities) contribute to poor health outcomes in the camps. The spread of communicable diseases including COVID-19 is also of concern.

Medical Teams currently serves a population of approximately 220,000 refugees and host nationals in the Kigoma region. The 2021-2022 PRM funding will support direct health services for refugees across three camps, Mtendeli, Nyarugusu, and Nduta. It will provide reproductive and child health services, improve access to medicines and medical equipment, and enable Community Health Workers to share health education messages. This award also includes funding allocated for a Landcruiser ambulance and minibus, strengthening Medical Teams’ ability to refer patients to secondary hospitals, and funding for the construction of an operating theatre. Additionally, this award will focus on reducing the prevalence of COVID-19 among refugee and host communities through prevention education. This funding is complementary to Medical Teams’ UNHCR project and is the second year of a three-year funding cycle.

“Tanzania has not been spared by COVID-19. After the onset of the pandemic, we in Tanzania and many other developing countries were struck in the twilight of protecting lives and protecting livelihoods. We are grateful that this funding will go a long way to provide equitable access to universal health coverage, including access to quality essential services, medicines and vaccines and health care financing for refugees we serve in Kigoma Region,” shares Tanzania Country Director Dr. George Mwita. “It will further implement all means of diagnosis, treatment and hospitalization of the sick in all structures and public health establishments as well as all actions intended to protect and promote their health, providing and organizing health prevention, protection and promotion activities.”

About Medical Teams International

Founded in 1979, Medical Teams International provides life-saving medical care for people in crisis, such as survivors of natural disasters and refugees. We care for the whole person— physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Daring to love like Jesus, we serve all people—regardless of religion, nationality, sex or race. Learn more at medicalteams.org and on social media using @medicalteams.

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