A case study in Tanzania
Presenters:
Rehema Chande-Mallya (MUHAS)
Lucy Reid (RCOG)
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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
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2007 – Alli moved to TLSB, Rehema became
director at MUHAS
◦ Expanded scope of partnership to include public libraries
and the formal project was developed
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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
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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
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Improvement of health in Tanzania focusing on
maternal and reproductive health and
communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, TB,
malaria and cholera
1. Embedding information skills training the MUHAS
curriculum
2. Developing a health information module for library
students at SLADS
3. Developing a network of Health Corners for members
of the public to access good quality, appropriate health
information
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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)
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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
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British Council Split Site Scholarship
◦ 1 year’s study leave
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Baseline study
◦ Identifying needs of library staff (TLSB)
◦ Mapping resources available for Health Corners
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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
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UCL Clinical Sciences library
◦ Moodle virtual learning environment
◦ Medical school library services
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St Thomas’ Hospital
◦ Patient information service
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Homerton Hospital
◦ Macmillan information service
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National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and
Children’s Health
◦ Information specialists working in guideline development
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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
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University of Nottingham
◦ Medical school library services
◦ Information skills training
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Wellcome library
◦ PubMed training
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Coventry hospital
◦ Patient information service
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Loughborough University
◦ Health curriculum for library students
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Working in partnership to bring different skills and
knowledge to the project
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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