Palms for Life Fund - Priority Countries

Tanzania

Population: 39.5 million
Gross National Income per capita: US$350
Under 5 mortality rate (per thousand): 122
Infant mortality rate (per thousand): 76
Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000): 578
Adult literacy rate: 69%
Male 72.5%
Female 62.2%
Net primary school enrollment/attendance rate: 96%

Tanzania

Situated on the Eastern Coast of Africa, Tanzania is one of Africa’s politically stable countries. However, Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Per capita income in 2006 was estimated to be at about US$350. Life expectancy at birth is 51 years and the maternal mortality rate is 578 per 100,000 births. The country is categorized as a least developed and low-income food-deficit country, with almost 80 percent of its total population dependent on mainly subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. The 2006 Human Development Index lists Tanzania as 162 out of 177 countries.

Poverty remains widespread and recent statistics indicate that over 39 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line. More than 40 percent of the population lives in chronic food-deficit regions where irregular rainfall causes recurring food shortages.

With an estimated 2.5 million people already living with HIV/AIDS, a prevalence rate of 8.8%, this epidemic is exacerbating the country’s poverty level and has reduced agricultural productivity. The epidemic is seriously undermining the capacity of poor households to sustain their livelihoods and remain food secure. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is also associated with a 60 percent increase in active TB in Tanzania. The HIV infection rate among adult TB patients is estimated at 44 percent. Tanzania is ranked 14th among 22 countries with the largest TB burdens in the world.

According to the 2004/05 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey, 38 percent of children under five in the country are chronically malnourished while over 30 percent of all regions in the country have stunting rates of over 50 percent. There is also widespread inequality in access to social services, including health care. This is due both to inadequacies in the health system and expensive medications that are out of reach for the impoverished. Furthermore, the nation suffers greatly from a lack of trained physicians; there are only 0.02 physicians per 1,000 people.

Furthermore, recurring political instability and civil strife in the neighboring countries of the Great Lakes Region (Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi) have led to massive influxes of refugees into Tanzania at different periods dating back as far as 1972 when almost 200,000 Burundians fled civil strife in their country into Tanzania. The country is currently hosting 360,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a few Rwandan and refugees with mixed ethnic backgrounds in 12 camps in northwestern Tanzania.

Palms for Life will focus its efforts on programs that provide integrated primary healthcare to most vulnerable populations and that assist the country in strengthening its capacity to deliver highly effective and sustainable health services.

Sources:
World Food Programme, Where We Work, Tanzania
The World Bank, Country Brief, 2007
The World Bank, Data-at-a-Glance, Tanzania
CIA World Factbook
UNDP Human Development Index
The World Health Organization, Tanzania

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