COVID 19

Not everyone made this group photo. Sorry!

As you likely know, there is C-19 in Tanzania and most Americans have returned home. An exception is April Trout, the Bega Kwa Bega long-term volunteer in Iringa. Her term is up in August and she has ties to southern Tanzania so she elected to stay.

Here is an article of some interest perhaps: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/africasource/tanzanias-mild-response-to-covid-19-and-its-implications-for-the-2020-elections/ . If you have been to TZ, you will recognize all the issues raised in the article.

I have been trying to think through some of the issues for TZ. I do not claim any inside knowledge, just some concerns below and in no particular order:
·        Age distribution. You know that 50% of Tanzanians are under age 5 and 75% are under age 25. There will still be deaths in this group of course, but their age-related risk population is small compared to ours.
·        However, nutrition is a big issue for kids under age five and women. (Far fewer men are undernourished on a percentage basis). Recall about 40% of kids under age 5 are stunted, i.e. chronically undernourished. There is no threshold for malnutrition where it does not have an effect.
·        Except for population centers, primarily Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Arusha and Kagera (in the furthest northwest corner of the country, next to Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi to the west), Tanzania is rural.
·        Fortunately, there is not much tobacco smoking, so much less COPD caused by smoking. I am not sure how may women get it from cook fire exposure.
·        Magafuli promoting attendance at religious services is likely to be harmful, of course.

Whereas, in the US we have tried social distancing with some success to flatten the curve, I believe it will happen only informally in TZ, because of Magafuli and possibly others, I suppose.  Most of the well-developed nations have used social distancing to avoid overwhelming the medical systems.  Certainly, the funeral traditions are likely to be overwhelmed in TZ. The medical system too, however, without the respirator resources we have, it seems to me there would not be much point to flattening the curve if even possible in TZ.

Except as an intellectual exercise, I suppose there isn’t much for us to do personally other than thoughts and prayers.

We did get a note from Dr. Benjamin and Mr. Kikoti that Ilula is doing what it can. I have also heard from Dr. Saga and Anna that they remain well.

Lastly, although we canceled the Ilula fundraiser for this year, if you have some money burning a hole in your pocket, one the Shoulder to Shoulder web page, http://ilulahealth.org/ , there is a prominent Donate button!

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