Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, 25 April 2023.Aga Khan Health Service, Tanzania today marked a historic and extraordinary expansion of its outreach health programme by opening its first Aga Khan Polyclinic in the Old Dispensary at Stone Town in Zanzibar Island. The new Aga Khan Polyclinic will allow the citizens of Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania to identify alternative and new sources of valuable services in a vast range of areas including in the latest technologies in imaging, pathology, renal complication management, enhanced urgent care, specialised cardiopulmonary services, pharmacy, ophthalmology and dentistry care, delivered by highly trained family medicine specialists.
The Old Dispensary was first built in 1887 and was subsequently leased to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) by the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar in 1990. Between 1994 and 1996, AKTC restored the Old Dispensary building. In April 2022, the Stone Town Conservative Development Authority (STDA) approved the design and granted renovation of the facility to Aga Khan Polyclinic, while continuing to maintain it as a conservation site.
Since the establishment of its first health dispensary in 1929, the Aga Khan Health Service, Tanzania has aimed to develop an integrated health system in the United Republic of Tanzania, with the goal of overcoming critical barriers to accessing quality healthcare and positively impacting the country’s health standards. This work has included a Tsh 192 billion (€75 million) expansion of the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar-es-Salaam, which was funded by the Government of France through a loan from Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and from the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The expansion has positioned the hospital as a premier teaching and tertiary hospital with a vision to operate 35 outreach health facilities across Tanzania. As part of the expansion of this outreach programme, Tsh 2 billion (€800,000) from the initial financing from AFD and AKDN has been invested towards renovating and equipping the Aga Khan Polyclinic, Zanzibar.
在事件中,首席客人,她的excelency First Lady Mariam Mwinyi, said “The Government is working to expand the capacity and quality of healthcare facilities to improve public health service delivery. Our key priorities are improving the provision and delivery of quality reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health services, as well as ensuring the availability of qualified and specialised human resource. In addition, we are also working towards the availability of digital healthcare systems.” Her Excellency Mariam Mwinyi further added: “We recognise and value the relationship of the Government of Zanzibar with the Aga Khan Development Network, which extends over 100 years, as well as the growing and important role of the private investors that invest in health services to combat diseases and improve healthcare services”.
“Our relationship with France goes back many years and spans many projects around the globe. The Government of France and Agence Française are committed to improving health outcomes in low-income countries, and in East Africa particularly,” noted Princess Zahra Aga Khan. “[The Aga Khan Polyclinic in Zanzibar] symbolises our commitment to supporting the Government’s vision for a better tomorrow. By providing affordable, equitable health care services, disease prevention and health promotion, the Polyclinic supports the Zanzibar Development Vision 2050, which aims to provide a sustainable universal healthcare system staffed by skilled healthcare professionals and supported by modern medical technologies and facilities,” she added.
The Aga Khan Polyclinic, Zanzibar will benefit the local community in many ways beyond just healthcare. With a staff that is 70 percent Zanzibarian, the clinic will drive social and economic development on the island by offering employment and skills-building opportunities.
“The establishment of this Outreach Health Centre in Zanzibar and its link to the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar-es-Salaam will enable people across the Island to access affordable and quality health care at their doorstep. The Aga Khan Polyclinic in Zanzibar is one of 24 centres already established that have been financed by France through AFD with the objective to protect the most vulnerable patients – including over 150,000 women and children – through family planning, immunisation, growth monitoring and antenatal care across various regions in partnership with the various district and regional health systems,” noted French Ambassador to Tanzania, HE Nabil Hajlaoui.
万博matext登录阿加汗卫生服务致力于维护a quality culture within all its service delivery centres, with the guiding principle to be the best, offer excellent quality services and specialised health care programmes, and remain the most significant private non-profit organisation operating under AKDN. AKHS’s focus on enhancing access to high-quality and cost-effective healthcare through its ‘hub and spokes’ model with world-class facilities, cutting-edge technology, infrastructures, and highly trained staff has driven its continued growth over the last nine decades, which is a strong testament to the institution’s commitment to healthcare development in the United Republic of Tanzania.
Aga Khan Development Network Press Release
Read Princess Zahra Aga Khan’s speech
Read Her Excellency First Lady Mariam Mwinyi’s speech
Read about the history of the Polyclinic and Zanzibar’s health system
Ismailimail
Great Achiements
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This is the Vision of the Master of the WORLDS.
A historic and extraordinary expansion of its outreach health programme in Zanzibar The shining example of Multicultural investment to providing quality health care to build the robust Nation with healthy Leaders of Tomorrow.
Thank You AKDN
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