Office of Global Health Equity: Tanzania Program

About the Karansi Project

As part of a 10-member medical team, we are very honored to be traveling to the rural village of Karansi, Tanzania from July 19th to August 6th this year for the first year of Morehouse School of Medicine's Global Health Equity Initiative in Tanzania.

100% of your generous, tax-deductible donation will support our medical teams' mission to improve the health and wellness of impoverished children in the remote community, which has no direct access to healthcare, and promote health equity through advocacy, service, education, and research. 

This program will open opportunities to care for many widows and children who suffer from many acute and chronic conditions preventable in this country. Our goal for this trip is to provide wellness checks for 4 public schools in the Siha District (~2,000 kids). There are two teams (July 19 - 29 and July 28 - August 6), and each one has been uniquely gifted to serve as part of the medical mission trip. 

In partnership with UboraTZ, we will be working with the Tanzanian government and the local District Medical Officer to lay the foundation for the sustainability of our Global Health Equity initiative. This will include developing a medical record system for tracking the health of the population in the area, surveillance for the prevalence of certain preventable diseases, providing vaccinations for those diseases, and health education to the children, adults, and healthcare workers in the larger Siha District. Our future plans also include a physician mentoring program between American and Tanzanian doctors, including valuable in-country training for the Morehouse School of Medicine students involved in the program.

This opportunity is made possible because of the compassion and partnerships between Morehouse School of Medicine, UboraTZ, Karansi community, public health officials and healthcare providers from Tanzania, healthcare providers from Pediatric Emergency Medicine Associates and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. 

We would like to especially thank: Theresa Stanley (Team Lead), Lilly Immergluck (Physician Lead, Team 1), Amit Sarnaik (Physician Lead, Team 2), MSM's Summer Research Program, Office of Global Health Equity, Institutional Advancement and Clinical Research Center; and UboraTZ (Gerald Thames, Todd Whitson, Timothy Neet; and Leslie Sams). 

Snapshot of Health in Tanzania

• For every 1,000 children born, approximately 68 children do not live past infancy; 112 do not live past the age of 5
• 51% of children have suffered stunted growth due to malnutrition and 26% are underweight
• 75% of children are anemic and 49% have moderate to severe cases
• There are only 4 central hospitals in Tanzania, so outreach is needed in the more remote and rural areas
• There are only 3 physicians per 10,000 people
• Many communities have diminished access to healthcare due to lack of transportation, poor road infrastructure and limited communication

If you would like to learn more about this program, please contact Theresa Stanley (theresastanley007@gmail.com) or Lilly Immergluck (limmergluck@msm.edu).