Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
In 2009 FACES embarked on a new project in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania aimed at improving the quality of life and opportunities available to people residing in this area. Initially our work focused on Buza; a new suburb in the south-west of Dar es Salaam that has seen rapid population growth in the recent years due to the high influx of internal migrants arriving from poorer rural areas in Tanzania. In Buza, during the summers of 2009 and 2010, FACES set up a temporary clinic offering free medical services and medication to the general public and offered English and ICT classes to adults who had received no or scant educational input. Through the contact made with the local people in these classes, FACES is currently sponsoring the education of 5 adolescents/ young adults at secondary school, college or university. From 2011 FACES decided to focus on supporting the development of local health services by collaborating with local bodies to improve the capacity of existing health structures. In 2011 FACES started collaborating with Cardinal Rugambwa Hospital in the Ukonga area in Dar Es Salaam in a project aimed at improving the capacity of this medical establishment. Currently the hospital offers the following services: a maternity unit with a capacity of 59 beds, a 24 hours a day out-patients unit, an operating theatre for gynaecological and obstetric operations, VCT and treatment for HIV/AIDS, community-based home care services for terminally ill people and reproductive child health services. To date FACES has funded the purchase of an ECG machine and provided relevant training for the hospital staff in its appropriate use, provided medical training in non-communicable diseases and contributed to the installation and implementation of a computerised medical records system.
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