Tanzania: Health Systems Strengthening with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College
From 2010 to 2013, Mildmay International partnered with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania, to deliver a health systems strengthening diploma programme focused on HIV care. The partnership was funded through THET (now Global Health Partnerships).
Building lasting capacity for HIV care in northern Tanzania
In Tanzania, where around 1.4 million people were living with HIV at the time of the programme, Mildmay's focus was on training and health systems strengthening rather than direct service delivery. The partnership with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College (KCMC) centred on an accredited diploma course developed from Mildmay's own curriculum, validated by the University of Manchester and previously delivered in Kenya Medical Training Colleges.
Delivered jointly by Mildmay and the Dean of the School of Nursing at KCMC, the programme took an adult learning approach. Teaching and learning workshops were shared with staff from across the college, broadening the reach beyond the HIV curriculum and strengthening the institution's wider educational capacity.
The partnership was supported by investment in infrastructure. Mildmay helped equip KCMC with up-to-date textbooks and a computer suite providing internet access, giving students resources that had not previously been available to them.
The programme reached communities well beyond the classroom. Participants included healthcare workers, prison staff and people in religious ministry, all of whom applied what they had learned in their own settings. One student working at Karanga Prison in Moshi established a support group for prisoners living with HIV, using Action Learning methods from the course to help participants address their own challenges. He also set up an outreach service for prison workers and prisoners' families, including food provision for families in need.
KCMC was well placed to extend the programme's reach, with the potential to cascade the diploma across Tanzania and contribute to health systems development beyond HIV. As the programme concluded, Mildmay handed on a strengthened institution, a trained teaching workforce, and a course model with demonstrated capacity to take root and grow independently.
Based on an article by Andrew Main in Global Health Partnerships, published in 2013
Photo by Vurzie Kim