FAME advances high-quality health care for under-resourced communities in rural Northern Tanzania. Serving a catchment area of 2.9 million people, FAME operates a modern hospital, lab, outpatient clinic, maternity center and reproductive & child health clinic. This year FAME has partnered with local government to take the lead in Covid-19 treatment, prevention and management in our region. Please join us on Giving Tuesday to help boost our pandemic and overall emergency response capabilities.
Tanzania has one of the world's lowest doctor-to-patient ratios: 1:20,000 (WHO, 2017) and an estimated 253 practicing specialist surgeons (World Bank, 2016). Tanzania also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally: 556:100,000 (USAID, 2018). Covid-19, combined with a devastated regional economy, has deeply impacted the already at-risk communities we serve and led to an uptick in medical emergencies, which require enhanced training and resources.
FAME has long filled a gap in our region in accessible, quality medical care. Our patients come from near and far; the average distance a patient travels to get to FAME is now 27.3 miles. With 104 highly trained Tanzanian medical staff, FAME is also helping to build and provide ongoing education and training to northern Tanzania's rural health care workforce. It is imperative that we scale up our emergency training and infrastructure across departments.
At FAME, we continually strive to better understand and address the needs and challenges of the communities we serve and to be a center of medical excellence in our region. Robust emergency care at FAME is more critical than ever. Our Giving Tuesday campaign will help us to strengthen our pandemic and overall emergency response capabilities - now and for the future of FAME and the many rural Tanzanians and their families who depend on FAME for lifesaving care.
