Tanzania launches a National Multi-sectoral Early Childhood Development Programme

13 December 2021- Dodoma: Investing in the early years of life has a profound impact on brain development, affecting a child’s learning, health, behaviour, and ultimately, income. It is well recognized that targeted investments in Early Childhood Development (ECD) offer opportunities to address inequalities, break the cycle of poverty and improve outcomes in later life.

The United Republic of Tanzania has become the first country in the Eastern and Central Africa to launch a national multisectoral Early Childhood Development Programme that will be implemented from financial year 2021/2022 to 2025/2026.

The launch event gathering actors from Health, Education, Internal Affairs, Finance and Local Government sectors; Development Partners; Representatives from UN Agencies, CSOs and NGOs; was officiated by the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children on behalf of Her Excellency President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The National Multisectoral ECD Programme seeks to ensure that all children in Tanzania are developmentally on track to reach their full potential. Building on Every Woman and Every Child Strategy of SURVIVE, THRIVE, AND TRANSFORM and nurturing care framework, the programme will address systemic and programmatic challenges that affect growth and development of young children 0—8 years in line with the Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2 which states that “by 2030 countries to ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development”.

Speaking at the launch at Jakaya Kikwete Convention Centre in Dodoma, the Minister for Health, Dr. Dorothy Gwajima expressed her joy that finally the ECD program has matured and has participation beyond the health sector. “The fact that this much awaited program is now operational creates a platform and a guide for other relevant sectors to contribute to nurturing a well-developed and rounded citizen of Tanzania,” said Dr. Gwajima.

Drawing from global instruments, the new program is geared towards bringing change for young children through providing enabling environment, strengthened service delivery, quality assurance, increased access to quality and coordinated services to young children, empowering of caregivers, families, and communities to adopt and practice nurturing care.

The WHO Country Representative to Tanzania, Dr. Tigest Ketsela Mengestu, commended the Government for committing to implement such a unique programme. “We all need to appreciate the psychosocial and economic benefits of investing in Early childhood Development. We hope the leaders present here today from all the levels will use all the available opportunities to advocate for ECD and that resources will be available to support implementation of the activities highlighted in the program,” said Dr. Mengestu.

Statements made by representatives from other sectors echoed similar sentiments and later each represented sector had an opportunity to a sign a board expressing commitment to support implementation of the programme.

For over 40 years, WHO and partners have been leading advocacy efforts to promote the ECD action in five areas: expanding political will and increasing investments; creating national policy environments; building partners’ capacity; improving multisectoral management systems; and strengthening national data and evidence. It is envisaged that through the programme all relevant stakeholders will work together proactively, aligning actions, advocating for essential changes and holding each other accountable for commitments made.

Note: This article have been indexed to our site. We do not claim legitimacy, ownership or copyright of any of the content above. To see the article at original source Click Here

Related Posts
TAVR animation thumbnail

TAVR animation

See how transcatheter aortic valve replacement is done. The aortic valve opens to let blood flow out of the left pumping chamber of the heart to the rest of your body. Aortic stenosis means that the valve becomes stiff and doesn't work properly. During some procedures, doctors guide a catheter through the femoral artery up
Read More
Yoga and Cholesterol thumbnail

Yoga and Cholesterol

Please enable cookies. Error 1005 Ray ID: 7e55bc2c2dc369a1 • 2023-07-12 02:07:51 UTC What happened? The owner of this website (www.webmd.com) has banned the autonomous system number (ASN) your IP address is in (47583) from accessing this website. Was this page helpful? Thank you for your feedback! Cloudflare Ray ID: 7e55bc2c2dc369a1 • Your IP: 89.117.245.16 •
Read More
WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization updates recommendations on boosters, COVID-19 vaccines for children thumbnail

WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization updates recommendations on boosters, COVID-19 vaccines for children

New guidance continues to prioritize full protection of the most vulnerable and reflects evidence of waning effectiveness and increased vaccine supply.   January 21, 2022 – The World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) has updated its guidance for booster doses and vaccination in children in light of increasing vaccine…
Read More
Achieving true hospital interoperability through close collaboration thumbnail

Achieving true hospital interoperability through close collaboration

Hospital IT departments face the daunting challenge of interoperability to enable clinicians to harness volumes of data generated from devices and systems each day. There are still persisting interoperability issues around data quality, as well as data inconsistencies, despite efforts made by standards organisations and the existence of regulatory incentives to encourage vendors and healthcare…
Read More
My children's  Instagram accounts hacked: Priyanka Gandhi thumbnail

My children’s Instagram accounts hacked: Priyanka Gandhi

Congress General secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that her children's Instagram accounts had been hacked. File photo of Priyanka GandhiCongress General secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said that her children's Instagram accounts were hacked. She was alluding to the phone-tapping allegations made by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav against the Yogi Adityanath government in UP. Samajwadi Party…
Read More
Index Of News
Consider making some contribution to keep us going. We are donation based team who works to bring the best content to the readers. Every donation matters.
Donate Now

Subscription Form

Liking our Index Of News so far? Would you like to subscribe to receive news updates daily?

Total
0
Share