EECCiT

Essential Emergency and Critical Care in Tanzania

Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) is the care that all critically ill patients should receive in all hospitals and health facilities in the world. It is an innovative approach specifying feasible, effective lifesaving actions of low cost and complexity for all patients with an acute life-threatening illness. EECC contains 40 treatments and care processes including triage, vital-signs monitoring, oxygen therapy, intravenous fluids, and patient positioning – the vital care for stabilizing patients and supporting vital organs. Evidence on EECC collated by a global network of clinicians, researchers and policy makers shows that EECC has the potential to save the lives of 1 million lives globally.

Tanzania has incorporated EECC in its emergency preparedness and broader health system strengthening by developing a National Strategic Plan for EECC Services, 2023-2026 for which operationalization is now started. The Governments of the United republic of Tanzania in collaboration with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and with the financial support of Global Affairs Canada through the “CanGive” initiative, will operationalize the national plans through the Emergency and Critical Care in Tanzania program, ‘EECCiT’.

Implementation Strategy: EECCiT is to be implemented in 18 months in primary health care facilities in Tanzania mainland in Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Katavi, Songwe, and Mtwara regions. The initiative will embed implementation research and  health economics analyses leading to the development of a 5-year nationwide costed scale-up plan. With technical guidance from MUHAS in collaboration with global experts, the implementation will take place as follows:

  • Stakeholder engagement and the dissemination of EECC guidelines at national and subnational level.
  • Development of capacity-building materials for EECC implementation.
  • Reviews of Health Managment Information System(HMIS) to integrate relevant indicators for EECC.

Activities done so far: Dissemination meetings have been held in the 5 regions of Tanzania mainland; Dar es Salaam, Mtwara, Kigoma, Katavi and Songwe. The attendees were Regional/Council Health Managment Team (R/CHMT) and facility-in-charges in the two selected districts in each region. The agenda was the introduction of the EECC National Strategic Plan, the EECC concept and the plans in operationalization of the strategic plan through the EECCiT program

Songwe
Songwe
Katavi
Katavi
Kigoma
Kigoma
Kigoma
Kigoma
Kigoma
Kigoma
Katavi
Katavi

Expected outputs: The EECCiT program aims to improve the care for critically ill patients in health facilities in Tanzania. EECCiT will also lead to new knowledge about the best ways to strengthen health systems to increase the coverage of oxygen, to improve the quality of healthcare and emergency services, and for public health emergency preparedness.