MOROGORO: THE Tanzanian government, through the Ministry of Health, the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (RALG) in collaboration with development partners ‘inSupply Health Tanzania’ has begun an assessing the implementation of the project to improve the vaccine storage and refrigeration maintenance system as a step to measure the achievements and set strategies to ensure that the project results continue to be sustainable after the completion of the project.
Dr Florian Tinuga from the Department of Health Services, Preventive Services Unit, RALG said this while representing the National Immunization Program Manager, Dr Georgina Joachim from the Ministry of Health opening a working session to assess the implementation of the project held in Morogoro region.
“We have gathered today with the main objective of conducting an assessment aimed at discussing together the achievements, challenges and steps to be taken to continue the improvements achieved in the ‘Rapid Repair and Response (R3)’ project for the registration and management of vaccine refrigerators and cold chain equipment in the country after its term has expired,” said Dr Tinuga.
He said that the achievements achieved in the project include building the capacity of health workers at the levels of service delivery centers, Council Health Management Teams (CHMT) and Regional Health Management Teams (RHMT), to strengthen the management, care and maintenance of refrigerators used to store vaccines.
In addition, Dr Tinuga said that one of the challenges that existed before the implementation of the project was the absence of a robust system for recording refrigerator maintenance, which was causing difficulties in tracking the history of errors and the steps taken to resolve them.
“We also expect this session to provide an opportunity for participants from regions, councils and service delivery centers to share experiences and provide recommendations that will help the Government further strengthen the cold chain management system and vaccine storage in the country,” said Dr Tinuga.
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Also, Dr Tinuga emphasized that the results of the assessment will enable the Government and stakeholders to prepare a Sustainability Plan that will guide how to continue implementing key maintenance activities, refrigeration management and strengthening vaccine storage systems even after the project is completed.
He urged the participants to participate fully in the discussions and provide opinions that will help improve the vaccine storage system in the country, explaining that cooperation between the Government and stakeholders is an important foundation for ensuring that all vaccines are maintained at the appropriate levels and reach the citizens safely and with the required quality.