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A case study in Tanzania

Strengthening health information and library systems in Africa through capacity building and partnership working. A case study in Tanzania. Presenters: Rehema Chande-Mallya (MUHAS) Lucy Reid (RCOG). Introduction and Background. HLG 2002: seeing a presentation about a Phi partnership

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A case study in Tanzania

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  1. Strengthening health information and library systems in Africa through capacity building and partnership working A case study in Tanzania Presenters: Rehema Chande-Mallya (MUHAS) Lucy Reid (RCOG)

  2. Introduction and Background • HLG 2002: seeing a presentation about a Phi partnership • 2006 - Phi put Alli Mcharazo (MUHAS) in touch with RCOG • Development of MUHAS library • Delivery of good quality health information to members of the public in Tanzania • Supporting the improvement of health across Tanzania • 2007 – Alli moved to TLSB, Rehema became director at MUHAS • Expanded scope of partnership to include public libraries and the formal project was developed

  3. Partnership working • PHI - supporting health library partnership between UK and developing countries – facilitated partnership and drove funding application • RCOG – professional body for doctors specialising in women’s health, developing reproductive health, delivering information services to support reproductive health • TVU - host a one year PhD candidate for Split Site Scholarship

  4. Partnership working • MUHAS - public medical university in Tanzania, delivers education and training for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, national medical collection • TLSB – network of public libraries in major towns in Tanzania, mechanism for delivering library services to members of the public • SLADS – TLSB hosted library school training librarians to certificate and diploma level

  5. Main Objective of the project is: • Improvement of health in Tanzania focusing on maternal and reproductive health and communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and cholera • Embedding information skills training the MUHAS curriculum • Developing a health information module for library students at SLADS • Developing a network of Health Corners for members of the public to access good quality, appropriate health information

  6. Overview of Tanzania related disease statistics • Maternal death = 6 women /1,000 live births (NBS 2007). Lifetime risk = 1/24 • HIV/AIDS prevalence = 6 % (15-49 years) • Malaria, cholera and TB affect significant numbers of people • Health information systems mostly situated in urban areas with poor coverage in rural areas • Access to relevant information is crucial to the economic, political, and social well-being of any community (UNESCO)

  7. Funding • DelPHE - 3 year funding • DfID and British Council fund to support north/south partnerships between HE institutions • Building capacity in institutions • Focus on Millennium Development Goals • Funding supports 3 main strands of project including: • Staff development and training • Acquisition and development of materials • Exchange programme • British Council Split Site Scholarship • 1 year’s study leave

  8. Year 1 – 2008-9 • Baseline study • Identifying needs of library staff (TLSB) • Mapping resources available for Health Corners • Exchange visits • Sharing knowledge about local needs (staff and users) and facilities • Learning from existing services with similar aims • Workshops on delivering information to members of the public • Training on health information skills • Introductory presentation to library students at SLADS

  9. MUHAS Library - 2008

  10. Dodoma and Morogoro libraries

  11. Workshop in Tanzania November 2008

  12. Sharing information about culture and country!

  13. UK visit - 2008 • UCL Clinical Sciences library • Moodle virtual learning environment • Medical school library services • St Thomas’ Hospital • Patient information service • Homerton Hospital • Macmillan information service • National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health • Information specialists working in guideline development

  14. Culture and country - continued

  15. Year 2 – 2009-10 • Developing information skills programmes for undergraduates and postgraduates at MUHAS • Improving infrastructure at MUHAS • Developing partnership working between MUHAS (appraising health information) and TLSB (network for dissemination) • PhD study – Effectiveness of communication channels in disseminating HIV/AIDS information • Exchange visit to UK

  16. UK visit 2010 • University of Nottingham • Medical school library services • Information skills training • Wellcome library • PubMed training • Coventry hospital • Patient information service • Loughborough University • Health curriculum for library students

  17. Loughborough - April 2010

  18. Culture and country

  19. Lessons learnt • Tanzania faces significant health challenges • Access to health information for members of the public is difficult • Libraries are ideally placed to deliver health information to members of the public • Institutions working in partnership have resources and skills to deliver health information in a way that is suitable for members of the public • Librarians need to repackage information and develop ways of disseminating it to the community

  20. Achievement • Exchange programme has broadened the horizons of staff in all partner organisations • MUHAS staff have acquired more information literacy skills • TLSB has the mandate of transferring the health information to the community • Mechanism for training future generations of library staff at SLADS

  21. Challenges • Lack of facilities to access health information in public libraries • Few public library staff currently have the skills to deliver health information • Insufficient health librarians • Lack of stable internet connectivity and equipment • Techno phobia and low computer literacy • Different information seeking behaviours

  22. Conclusion • Working towards the project goals: • Providing and disseminating health information services to the community as a whole through Health Corners • Educating library staff, students, lecturers and practitioners on how to use the e-resources • Training librarians to work with health information • Working in partnership to bring different skills and knowledge to the project

  23. Authors • Rehema Chande-Mallya: c_rehema@yahoo.com • Shane Godbolt: shane@godbolt.co.uk • Alli Mcharazo: amcharazo@hotmail.com • Tony Olden: tony.olden@tvu.ac.uk • Lucy Reid: lreid@rcog.org.uk • Emma Stanley: estanley@phi-info.org.uk

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