Tanzania

Although proper harm reduction (HR) services do exist such as access to opioid substitution treatments and syringe exchange programmes, they are still too scarce compared to the actual needs. Stigmatisation and discrimination – which are prevalent in healthcare services and amongst the population – constitute additional barriers to healthcare.

The legal framework and the repressive political environment further reinforce the marginalisation of people and how distanced from healthcare they are.

To ensure the durability of our humanitarian mission in Tanzania and of our interventions, we relentlessly aim our advocacy at the authorities in favour of harm reduction and strengthen the capacity of local partners through the training and resources centre.

Today, Médecins du Monde is playing a major role for promoting and institutionalising harm reduction in Tanzania. In 2021, as a national expert, Médecins du Monde’s teams endeavoured to:

• ensure the proper transfer of the pilot programme to guarantee long-term quality and durability,
• coordinate the upscaling of harm reduction services currently in place in Dar es Salam and currently being set up in two other localities (Bagamoyo and Tanga), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the institutions involved,
• reinforce the capacity of local institutions and organisations to implement supervision and harm reduction services of quality,
• support the Tanzanian network of people who use drugs to get the needs of consumers acknowledged and defended,
• support the development of policies and national strategies in favour of harm reduction,
• do advocacy work aimed at policy makers within the national healthcare system to strengthen healthcare services adapted to people who use drugs.

In 2021 in the context of our work in Tanzania, we:

• reinforced and expanded our harm reduction programme in 3 cities of the country. This project reached 7,049 people who use drugs,
• worked with and trained 9 local partners who started setting up syringe exchange programmes,
• trained/informed 1,251 people on harm reduction (police, healthcare staff, etc),
• collaborated with public institutions to develop key national policies to establish harm reduction programmes.