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A case study in Tanzania Presenters: Rehema Chande-Mallya (MUHAS) Lucy Reid (RCOG)
A case study in Tanzania
Presenters:Rehema Chande-Mallya (MUHAS)Lucy Reid (RCOG)
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
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
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
Improvement of health in Tanzania focusing on maternal and reproductive health and communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and cholera1. Embedding information skills training the MUHAS
curriculum2. Developing a health information module for library
students at SLADS3. Developing a network of Health Corners for members
of the public to access good quality, appropriate health information
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Rehema Chande-Mallya: [email protected] Shane Godbolt: [email protected] Alli Mcharazo: [email protected] Tony Olden: [email protected] Lucy Reid: [email protected] Emma Stanley: [email protected]
