Press Releases

U.S. Ambassador Hands Over Two Ambulances to Minister of Health to Improve Tanzania’s Disaster Preparedness

January 30, 2006

The United States Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr. Michael Retzer, today handed over to the Minister of Health, Honorable David Mwakyusa, two new life-saving medical ambulances valued at approximately $80,000. These life saving vehicles are to be used by the Ministry of Health to improve its response to unexpected health emergencies faced by Tanzanian men, women and children.

Between 1999-2005, the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), contributed approximately $9 million dollars to help strengthen the ability of the Tanzanian Government to respond to a wide variety of emergencies and disasters. Working with many partners over that time including, among others, the Disaster Management Department in the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Health’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit, the Tanzanian Red Cross Society, The United States Centers for Disease Control and USAID contributed to the birth of emergency medicine in Tanzania and helped to professionalize national disaster coordination and documentation.

Specific activities under the project included: doctors and nurses and medical professionals received specialized emergency medical training; new and improved emergency medical curriculum was developed and disseminated; and a host of technical medical equipment was procured and distributed for use within Tanzania’s medical community and hospitals country-wide. As part of this initiative, USAID transferred four ambulances to the Government of Tanzania in 2003. Today’s transfer of two additional ambulances, bringing the total to six, represents the culmination of this important emergency preparedness activity.

At the transfer ceremony this morning, U.S. Ambassador Michael Retzer said, “While the Emergency and Disaster Response Project is winding down, the U.S. commitment to improving the lives of Tanzanians continues to grow. U.S. assistance to Tanzania has increased ten-fold over the past few years and the Embassy is working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, other government entities, and private groups to address some of the most serious challenges facing Tanzanians.” The Ambassador highlighted recent large-scale initiatives between the U.S. and Tanzania in HIV/AIDS, malaria, and poverty reduction through economic growth, which demonstrate that cooperation between the two countries continues to grow and strengthen.