KIT has been supporting the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) to make better use of their database and develop relevant research to improve their course offering. This will position IHI as a powerful leader in public health in Tanzania.

Improving Ifakara Health Institute’s data analysis

The crucial challenge for Tanzania’s healthcare system is to improve the access to – and quality of – essential healthcare and prevention. The fact that public health leaders lack the data skills to translate research into policy compounds the problem. This project was developed to address these issues.

IHI is one of the organisations best positioned in Tanzania to improve its health system. KIT has been working with IHI to enhance innovative research and application by:

• strengthening their capacity to analyse data from their database and use the data for decision-making
• developing relevant market-oriented and gender-equitable research that can feed into the policy cycle in Tanzania
• improving their potential for offering courses, which can be taken by Tanzanian public health professionals looking to improve their skills

Results

Institutional capacity – in terms of leadership and management – has improved, and IHI staff have improved their data handling and analysis skills. The addition of four PhD students has increased the institution’s research capacity and IHI now has a curriculum for a Masters in Public Health Research.

These changes improve IHI’s ability to understand and implement complex health programmes, and to evaluate the system’s performance. This makes IHI a strong leader and important resource for public health in Tanzania.