THE FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY AND AKDN SIGN a Multimillion-Dollar Agreement on the Expansion of Health Services in Tanzania

Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Head of AKDN's Social Welfare Department looks on as AFD’s deputy Chief Executive Officer, Jacques Moineville, and Amin Habib, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Aga Khan Health Services in Tanzania exchange agreements following the signing ceremony which took place Friday 9th May in France.

By  Special Reporter

Gouvieux, France, 9 May 2014  - The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Aga Khan Development Network today signed a US$ 79.8 million agreement, in an effort to substantially enhance the quality and reach of the Network’s health programmes in Tanzania.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan, who heads AKDN’s Social Welfare Department, attended the signing ceremony at the AKDN headquarters in Gouvieux France. The agreement was signed by AFD’s deputy Chief Executive Officer, Jacques Moineville, and Amin Habib, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Aga Khan Health Services in Tanzania.

The US $ 79.8 million agreement, which includes a US$ 53.5 million concessional loan from AFD and a US$ 26.3 million contribution from AKDN, covers the construction of a new 14,000 square metre facility that will accommodate cardiology, oncology, neurosciences, critical care, mother and child health, nuclear medicine and imaging services.  It also encompasses the establishment of 30 outreach centres across Tanzania that will provide free monitoring, immunization and family planning services.

The full expansion also envisages the establishment of an enhanced patient welfare programme and the creation of postgraduate medical education residency programmes in surgery and medicine in partnership with the Aga Khan University.

The agreement, which marks the beginning of the second phase of the hospital’s expansion plans, reinforces the leading role the Aga Khan Hospital Dar es Salaam plays in the country’s primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare system. The expansion is part of the broader development of an integrated AKDN health system in East Africa.

The first development phase of the hospital, which was completed in June 2000, included upgrades to inpatient accommodation, consulting clinics, the laboratory, pharmacy and an accidents and emergency unit.

NOTES

Established in 1964, Aga Khan Hospital, Dar es Salaam is a private, not-for-profit institution that provides primary, secondary and tertiary level health care services in Tanzania. In 2003, the Hospital was awarded the ISO 9001: 2000 (International Standardisation Organisation) certificate. This certification is awarded only when a hospital’s clinical, diagnostic, administrative, and support services conform to the ISO standards.

The Hospital is part of the Aga Khan Development Network’s (AKDN) Health System in eight countries, which provides community health programmes covering over 200 health facilities, including 12 hospitals. It is one of the most comprehensive private not-for-profit health care systems in the developing world. In Tanzania, the Network operates one hospital and six medical centres.

The Hospital provides general medical services, specialist clinics and state of the art diagnostic services. It is also part of the Aga Khan Health Services international referral system, with links to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi and the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi.

The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is a public development finance institution that has been working to fight poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries and the French Overseas Provinces for seventy years. It executes the policy defined by the French Government.

AFD is present on four continents where it has an international network of seventy agencies and representation offices, including nine in the French Overseas Provinces and one in Brussels. It finances and supports projects that improve people’s living conditions, promote economic growth and protect the planet, such as schooling for children, maternal health, support for farmers and small businesses, water supply, tropical forest preservation, and the fight against climate change.

In 2012, AFD approved €7 billion to finance activities in developing countries and the France’s overseas provinces. The funds will help get 10 million children into primary school and 3 million into secondary school; they will also improve drinking water supply for 1.79 million people. Energy efficiency projects financed by AFD in 2012 will save nearly 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.