Tanzania is seeking to strengthen emergency healthcare services by using research evidence to assess how well health facilities respond to conditions that can quickly lead to death or permanent disability.
The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the President’s Office–Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the Emergency Medicine Association of Tanzania (EMAT), is conducting the Acute Care Transformation through Basic Emergency Care (ACTxBEC) study.
The study is expected to generate evidence that will guide decisions on emergency care policy, planning and investment, while identifying interventions that can be expanded across the health system.
The ministry has trained 62 data collectors who will gather information from selected health facilities as part of the study.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, September 3, 2026, during the training, Ministry of Health Emergency and Disaster Management Unit official Dr Fredrick Myula said the exercise was aimed at ensuring that data collected was accurate, reliable and complied with research standards.
He said the training covered research ethics, patient confidentiality, digital data collection and professional procedures for gathering and managing information.
Dr Myula said the findings would be used to assess the impact of basic emergency care training among healthcare workers in different parts of the country.
The study will particularly examine the management of conditions that contribute significantly to deaths and disability, including road traffic injuries, severe postpartum bleeding, pneumonia, diarrhoeal diseases among children under five, asthma and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).
“This research will enable the ministry to obtain scientific evidence to guide decisions on policies, plans and investment in emergency care,” Dr Myula said.
He said the evidence would also help identify interventions that deliver results and could subsequently be strengthened or scaled up within the health system.
The initiative comes amid growing recognition that the outcome of many medical emergencies depends not only on access to health facilities but also on how quickly and effectively patients are assessed and treated once they arrive.
WHO official Dr Janeth Masuma urged the trained data collectors to undertake their work with professionalism, integrity and strict adherence to research ethics.
She said the quality of the information collected would directly influence the value of the research findings.
“The quality of the information they collect is an important foundation for the success of this research,” Dr Masuma said.
She added that the findings would contribute to efforts to improve emergency services and increase the number of lives saved through timely and appropriate care.
ACTxBEC is being implemented in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda as part of broader efforts to strengthen basic emergency care systems.
The research is expected to provide evidence that can help countries improve the capacity of healthcare workers to recognise and manage life-threatening conditions promptly, potentially strengthening emergency care delivery across East Africa.