Skip to content
Mothers with their children waiting in the shade in front of the health centre in Rungungu, sitting on the ground and on benches along the building

Tanzania, health

Rungungu health centre and maternity unit

Hope that can save a life.

  • a catchment area of about 10,000 people
  • one dentist, several hours' travel away
  • a doctor whose journey to work and back takes about five hours
  • a building with no water and no electricity

We are building a new health centre and housing for the doctor, with a supply of water and electricity.

A place meant to protect life cannot today offer even a dignified minimum.

In the village of Rungungu there are families for whom medical help is still far away.

A health centre does stand here, but its condition is disastrous.

The building is damaged, with no water, no electricity and none of the hygienic conditions that treatment and a safe delivery require.

To this day the doctor has to fetch water from outside, which makes basic hygiene and the care of patients much harder.

The delivery room of the health centre in Rungungu: a metal delivery table with peeling paint, a wooden chair instead of a step and a scuffed blue wall
Today The delivery room of the health centre. Rungungu.

The help that is missing hurts

In a wide catchment area of about 10,000 people there is only one dentist, several hours' travel away.

For a large part of the population, dental care is therefore effectively out of reach.

Even basic health services can make an enormous difference to quality of life.

Tomorrow

So a new health centre will be built

Instead of repairing an unsuitable building, we want to put up a new low-cost building in the natural African standard, so that it respects the local setting, local custom and sustainability.

Our aim is to create a clean, dignified and hygienic place of care where it will be possible to treat people safely and to bring children into the world.

A three-dimensional visualisation of the new health centre in Rungungu with a green roof, solar panels and two water tanks
Visualisation of the new building. A solar roof and water tanks.
A young doctor in the consulting room of the health centre sitting at a wooden desk over an open paper register of patients
Today. The doctor records patients in a paper register.

A doctor who gets a chance to stay

A young doctor travels in to the village. His journey to work and back takes about five hours.

The project therefore also includes simple housing right beside the health centre.

A place where the doctor can:

  • stay close to his patients
  • devote himself fully to the work
  • start a family and a future in the community

Why the help is urgent

The commonest illness in the region is malaria, which can be treated successfully if it is diagnosed in time. A simple blood test confirms it quickly, and if medicines are given early it responds well to treatment.

Even so, mothers still die in childbirth here today simply because the doctor has no basic equipment to hand or cannot provide the necessary care in time. These are deaths that could be prevented if medical help were available.

But without functioning health facilities, some help arrives too late.

  • For children.
  • For mothers.
  • For the sick.
See the three phases

Project goals

The new health centre with its maternity unit will grow step by step.

Rungungu health centre and maternity unit, Amount raised
€0
of €35,000

Fundraiser in preparation

Target: €35,000

€35,000 is the total of the project's three phases.

Be among the first to support the building of the new health centre. We will connect the fundraiser's current total to the transparent account.

  1. €30,000

    Phase 1: The foundation of safety

    • construction of a new low-cost building
    • running water brought in
    • electricity supplied by solar power
    A corridor in the health centre with hand-painted signs above the doors and a plastic water canister on a wooden chair between them
    Today. The water stands in a canister in the corridor.

    There will be a working first-aid point.

  2. €3,000

    Phase 2: Care for patients

    • hospital beds
    • an examination table
    • basic equipment for the consulting room
    A room in the health centre with one metal bed, a mosquito net hung above it and a small metal table of medicines beside it
    Today. One bed, a mosquito net and a small metal table of medicines.

    Help will become genuinely available.

  3. €2,000

    Phase 3: Hygiene and safety

    • a steriliser
    • a refrigerator for medicines and vaccines
    • a washing machine and dryer for a clean medical environment
    A doctor in a white coat standing at an open wooden shelf with boxes of medicines laid out in sparse rows
    Today. The medicines stand on an open wooden shelf, with no refrigerator.

    Care will be dignified and safe.

Three phases of the centre in total €35,000

If we raise more

The help will continue:

  • medical and consumable supplies
  • support for the day-to-day running of the health centre
  • cover for essential running costs