Conference abstract
Towards universal access to primary oral health services in Tanzania: understanding supply-side opportunities and bottlenecks
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2024:21(66).29
Apr 2024.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2024.21.66.2397
Archived on: 29 Apr 2024
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Universal access, primary oral health services, supply-side, Tanzania
Oral presentation
Towards universal access to primary oral health services in Tanzania: understanding supply-side opportunities and bottlenecks
James Tumaini Kengia1,&, Mwandu K. Jiyenze2, Msafiri N. Kabulwa3, Paul Chaote1, Kijakazi O. Mashoto4
1President's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), Tanzania, 2Centre for Educational Development in Health Arusha (CEDHA), Arusha, Tanzania, 3Ministry of Health (MoH), P.O. Box 743, 40478-Dodoma, Tanzania, 4National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
&Corresponding author
Introduction: oral health is integral to the general health and well-being of an individual and the general population. Over the recent years, the push for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has gained substantial momentum. Oral health, on the contrary, has been mostly missed from the UHC discussion. This study seeks to assess the current situation of oral health care services in Tanzania, in particular understanding the bottlenecks in supply side that requires policy level and implementation attention in the progress towards realization of universal access to oral health.
Methods: this study relied on a cross-sectional analysis of administrative data collected from a designed data-capturing tool with key domains on the supply side. Additional information was obtained from the Regional Dental Officers Conference Report 2021 and subsequent years, the District Health Information System (DHIS2), and the Ministry of Health (MoH) health facility registry. We used an MS Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft Corporation) to manage and analyze the collected data.
Results: this study found an increase in the coverage of facilities offering oral health care at the Council level from 99 (54%) out of 184 in 2021 to 184 (100%) in 2024. Also, there was an increase in public health centers offering oral health from 20% to 41%, respectively. The availability of Human resources has remained low, from 26% to 29% for the same period.
Conclusion: the evidence of this study shows an increase in the coverage of the oral health care provision in Tanzania. The slow pace in increase of numbers of human resources suggest the need for strategic investment to areas with high needs. Further study is required to assess effective the coverage (quality aspect), facilitators, barriers and demand side bottlenecks.
Towards universal access to primary oral health services in Tanzania: understanding supply-side opportunities and bottlenecks
James Tumaini Kengia1,&, Mwandu K. Jiyenze2, Msafiri N. Kabulwa3, Paul Chaote1, Kijakazi O. Mashoto4
1President's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), Tanzania, 2Centre for Educational Development in Health Arusha (CEDHA), Arusha, Tanzania, 3Ministry of Health (MoH), P.O. Box 743, 40478-Dodoma, Tanzania, 4National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
&Corresponding author
Introduction: oral health is integral to the general health and well-being of an individual and the general population. Over the recent years, the push for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has gained substantial momentum. Oral health, on the contrary, has been mostly missed from the UHC discussion. This study seeks to assess the current situation of oral health care services in Tanzania, in particular understanding the bottlenecks in supply side that requires policy level and implementation attention in the progress towards realization of universal access to oral health.
Methods: this study relied on a cross-sectional analysis of administrative data collected from a designed data-capturing tool with key domains on the supply side. Additional information was obtained from the Regional Dental Officers Conference Report 2021 and subsequent years, the District Health Information System (DHIS2), and the Ministry of Health (MoH) health facility registry. We used an MS Excel spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft Corporation) to manage and analyze the collected data.
Results: this study found an increase in the coverage of facilities offering oral health care at the Council level from 99 (54%) out of 184 in 2021 to 184 (100%) in 2024. Also, there was an increase in public health centers offering oral health from 20% to 41%, respectively. The availability of Human resources has remained low, from 26% to 29% for the same period.
Conclusion: the evidence of this study shows an increase in the coverage of the oral health care provision in Tanzania. The slow pace in increase of numbers of human resources suggest the need for strategic investment to areas with high needs. Further study is required to assess effective the coverage (quality aspect), facilitators, barriers and demand side bottlenecks.
