From the Office of the Prime Minister, United Republic of Tanzania

Disease outbreaks always bring high costs to the lives of our communities and countries. The full costs of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa have already shown that the burden is broad in terms of short-term cost of control, patient care, hospital admission and in the broader context, dislocation of the economies.  Moreover, the Ebola Epidemic has also threatened national, regional and global health security.

The epidemic raised new attention on the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted in 2005 by member states in the WHO and the critical need for countries to have strong health systems to respond to adverse health events when they arise. The IHR 2005 constitute the essential vehicle for addressing global health security as they aim at protecting global health security while avoiding unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade. Countries need to be prepared even before any disaster or an emergency strikes, and they need to be ready to protect their citizens and remain resilient in the face of these threats. A National Action Plan for Health Security is thus key to address holistically health security and emergencies capabilities within a country.

This is the first “National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS)” to be developed using a multisectoral approach. The NAPHS has drawn expertise from various sectors. This reflects a shared commitment to enhanced collaboration when addressing national health security. The NAPHS aims to create and maintain active collaboration between the sectors for addressing health security using “One health approach concept” so as to ensure that there is timely preparedness, and a consistent and coordinated response in the event of occurrence of an event of public health concern.  

This newly developed National Health Security Plan will be a coordination platform, which will be used to map and ensure interplay between multiple sectors and other existing plans at all administrative levels of the country. The plan will be implemented under the guidance of the Prime Minister’s Office. To achieve this, an Inter-ministerial Committee to administer the plan, and monitor and evaluate its implementation will be developed and will have representatives from all relevant line ministries, and will also co-opt development partners. The Committee will be accountable to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Successful implementation of the NAPHS will contribute significantly to the overall goal of improving national, regional and global health security. We call upon other government departments, and development partners, civil society, private sector and the Tanzanian community to join us in implementation of the NAPHS. This NAPHS should be considered a “living document” and is open for feedback, additions and revisions based on changing needs.

Hon. Kassim Majaliwa (MP)

Prime Minister

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