mobile outreach programme

Most of the rural areas surrounding Dar es Salaam provide no specialised services for people with disabilities. Lack of funds, high transport costs and low availability of information about the possibilities of treatment keep many people of poor background from travelling to Dar es Salaam to seek specialist advice and treatment. The CCBRT Mobile Outreach Programme aims to make specialist services available and affordable to the under-served rural areas surrounding Dar es Salaam by raising the awareness about the availability of rehabilitative services, screening people with visual and other impairments, providing treatment on the spot or transport to CCBRT disability hospital for those patients in need of surgery.

services

Reaching out to people in need: Making services accessible to the poor
How the outreach programme works:

• The programme covers a radius of 350 km.
• Screening sessions are announced well in advance using radio, newspaper and posters.
• Teams regularly conduct screening sessions in the rural regions in collaboration with government hospitals, missionary hospitals and other social institutions.
• Patients screened receive treatment on the spot or are referred to CCBRT disability hospital for specialised services.
• The price of treatment also includes transport to and from CCBRT disability hospital.

Developing human resources: building specialised services in partner institutions
CCBRT is committed to human resource and service development in medical institutions in the surrounding regions of Dar es Salaam. In 2005, a specialist Eye Unit was successfully established in Tanga's Bombo Hospital in collaboration with CCBRT disability hospital. CCBRT now uses this model elsewhere in the country and supports the establishment of independent specialist departments in 4 additional regions in Tanzania. This is an important step in bringing quality services closer to those most in need.