Dispensary and Healthcare
The Dumbeta Dispensary is a government funded community health clinic. The Dispensary is the only health care facility that the local population has ready access to. It strives to provide well child care, prenatal care, obstetrical care, primary care and urgent care to the ward’s ten thousand residents. Like many rural health clinics in Tanzania and throughout the developing world, the Dumbeta Dispensary is underfunded and understaffed. The Dispensary employs one full time medical officer and one nurse. When the Rafiki Village Project first arrived, the Dispensary’s medication cupboard was almost empty, there was no running water inside the clinic, and the Dispensary was only open limited hours. These problems have now been addressed.
Because access to health care is vital to the wellbeing of any community, the Rafiki Village Project is committed to continuing to improve the Dumbeta Dispensary. The health problems faced by the community include infectious diseases like malaria, HIV, typhoid and pneumonia, a too-high infant mortality rate, low birth weight, insufficient prenatal care, low immunization rates and lack of obstetrical care. The Rafiki Village Project is having an impact on the health of the community by improving access to health care professionals, medications, clean water, improved sanitation resources and health education.