“The most important thing in medicine? It is not so much the disease from which the patient is affected, as the person who suffers from that disease”
(Hippocrates, 460 BC-377 BC)
The Rural Health Centre (Kituo Cha Afya in Swahili) is the hospital built by CO.P.E. between 2004 and 2007 in the village of Nyololo, Iringa region, Tanzania.
The hospital is located in an area with very low health coverage: it has approximately 60 beds and basic medical care services that serve a population of approximately 40,000 inhabitants. The second closest hospital is the Mafinga district hospital, 63 km away.
The general objective for which it was created is to improve health conditions and reduce the causes of mortality with particular attention to maternal and child health and the treatment and prevention of HIV.
The hospital is made up of 5 pavilions: Pediatrics, Maternity, General Medicine for women, General Medicine for men and Isolation Ward. For some years, a monitoring service for the treatment of child malnutrition has been included in the pediatric ward, which represents an exclusive and recognized program at a territorial level. Within the departments, the Government Program dedicated to mother and child health has been implemented, which includes vaccinations and check-ups for pregnant women and children under 5 years of age, and the Mobile clinic program in neighboring villages, which takes care of pregnant women, immunization, child growth and HIV/AIDS counseling outside the facility.
Furthermore, the CTC (Care and Treatment Center) government program has been implemented for the prevention and treatment of HIV: in addition to the services for the administration of antiretroviral and antibiotic therapy for infections and psychological support during therapy, the program includes the VCT (Voluntary Conselling test), a free service that allows the population to take the HIV test.
The POLE POLE rehabilitation center within the hospital and created thanks to co-financing di Filo Diretto Onlus is aimed at childhood disabilities and provides: monitoring, treatment of mild disabilities and transport to specialized centers for more serious disabilities.
In recent years, the Hospital's activities have been mainly directed towards: training of local staff and education of the population through seminars and socio-health awareness events open to all citizens. This area of Tanzania has HIV prevalence rates among the highest (between 20 and 40%) of the national average values, as it is crossed by one of the main communication arteries between the port of Dar Es Salaam and other countries, such as Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi. Furthermore, in the Iringa region, approximately 12% of children under one year of age are malnourished (Iringa Region Socio-economic Profile, 2013) and the level of rickets is one of the highest in the country (51.3%), despite high agro-food production. Only 8.8% of children between 6 and 23 months have a sufficiently varied diet and 19.2% of children between 6 and 59 months do not receive an adequate intake of vitamin A. The activity undertaken aims to reduce the incidence of malnutrition, particularly childhood malnutrition, in five surrounding villages whose population is approximately 16,000 people. The main economic activity consists of subsistence agriculture and in particular the cultivation of beans, corn, potatoes and green leafy vegetables. Despite this, very high levels of malnutrition are recorded: in the Mufundi district, 12.3% of children under one year of age are malnourished (Iringa Region Socio-economic Profile, 2013).
Another priority is the problem of blood availability with a consequent need to set up a blood bank. The Hospital was built with the contribution of the Italian Episcopal Conference, which allocates part of the 8 per thousand of the overall IRPE revenue F for charitable interventions in favor of developing countries (CEI, Charitable Interventions in favor of Third World Countries – 2006) and thanks to the co-financing of the Regione Sicilia in 2003 and 2007. The construction of the hospital began in 2004 in collaboration with the Diocese of Iringa by joint will of the Parish of Nyololo and the Archdiocese of Palermo.
The day-care service of the health center includes:
- 2 medical clinics;
- 2 rooms for dressings;
- 1 dental clinic;
- 1 analysis laboratory;
- 1 pharmacy;
- 1 medicine warehouse;
- 1 reception;
- 1 administration office;
- 1 accounting office;
Analysis laboratory Active since 2011, it is the most equipped laboratory in the district. It allows, in addition to all routine biochemical tests, to carry out analyses of food parasites and sexually transmitted diseases. It also provides immediate and targeted service to HIV patients thanks to the CD4 counting equipment.
NHIF (National Health Insurance Fund) Service In 2015, KCA joined the government program that guarantees free health care, complete with analysis and supply of medicines, for all patients with NHIF insurance.
Hospitalization Service Currently there are 5 hospitalization departments: pediatrics, maternity, men, women and isolation.
Delivery room It is located inside the maternity ward and thanks to a government program, it provides free service to women giving birth and is complete with obstetric staff.
Oxygen therapy This is a unit recently activated following the wiring of the Health Centre with electricity, which allowed the introduction of electric oxygenators. This unit allows to deal with emergency cases and to give support to patients with breathing difficulties.
RCH (Reproductive Child Health) Government service that deals with maternal and child health, monitoring during pregnancy, prevention and diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases; in addition, prophylactic therapies against malaria, treatments for intestinal worms, anemia and fetal malformations are carried out, up to vaccinations for mothers and children up to the age of 5 years.
PMTCT (Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission) and VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Test) These are two government programs active within the center, which deal respectively with the transmission of HIV from mother to child and diagnosis, awareness and counseling on the issue of HIV/AIDS.
CTC (Care and Treatment Clinic) It is a structure entirely dedicated to the treatment of HIV-positive patients, providing specialist care, specific medicines and psychological support.
Ambulance Service Active 24 hours a day, it is a service free for mothers giving birth and, in the event of complications or pathologies that cannot be treated at the facility, it allows patients to be transported to the nearest hospital in Mafinga, which is 63 km away.
Dental Department Facility created as part of the "International Dental Solidarity" project of the Smile Mission Onlus, dedicated to oral health in disadvantaged communities.
Origins of intervention
- 1994. The collaboration between the Co.P.E. and the two Dioceses had already allowed the construction and operation of the Rural Health Centre in the village of Migoli, Izazi-Migoli area, south-east of the Mtera basin, in the same region of Iringa.
- 2002. This collaboration allowed the foundations to be laid and the first on-site studies to be conducted for the implementation of the new health cooperation project in the village of Nyololo.
- 2004. The construction site for the construction of the Rural Health Centre of Nyololo, the only one in the Mufindi District, was thus started.
- 2007. KCA inaugurated in June, with the aim of making up for the lack of medical care and serving a population of approximately 65,000 people.
- 2010. At the same KCA, but a little apart to ensure greater privacy, the Care and Treatment Clinic CTC has been inaugurated, specializing in HIV testing, information and prevention service and treatment of immunodeficiency through the distribution of antiretroviral drugs.
Under construction thanks to various funders operating room and hospitalization wards.
