The Challenge

Currently, an estimated 4.2 million people in Tanzania live with a disability. That is equivalent to half the estimated population of New York City. An additional 20 million people are affected by disability within their family.

It is also estimated that Tanzania’s soaring population growth rates will contribute to the increasing number of people living with, and developing, disabilities. Many of these disabilities are congenital, and therefore preventable, with access to high quality healthcare. However, lack of access can subscribe a person to a lifetime of poverty, vulnerability, and exclusion from their community just for lacking this access.

Disability by Numbers:

13.2% of Tanzanian households have at least one member living with a disability.
Almost half of all Tanzanians living with a disability are illiterate.
More than half of children with disabilities do not attend school.
Only an estimated 3.1% of Tanzanian adults living with a disability receive earnings from paid employment.
The exclusion of people with disabilities from the workplace, either through discrimination or inaccessible work environments, costs Tanzania $480 million every year - 3.8% of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

In addition to a strained healthcare system and growing population in urban centers, there is a severe shortage of trained medical teams to provide high quality surgical interventions and rehabilitative care. Even if an individual knew their condition was treatable, they may not have access to that treatment.

The Solution

The Kupona community is no stranger to these challenges. With your vital support, Kupona invested in the holistic treatment and rehabilitation of people living with disabilities. You empowered and equipped frontline healthcare workers to provide high quality and specialist care, and strengthened the existing healthcare system in the Dar es Salaam region, with an estimated population of over 6 million.

CCBRT provides high quality disability and rehabilitation services for patients regardless of their ability to pay. In 2019, your critical support provided free, comprehensive treatment to over 10,000 people who otherwise would not have had access to life changing rehabilitation. As the largest provider of rehabilitation services in Tanzania, CCBRT is also committed to sharing their knowledge with the local and international healthcare community through The CCBRT Academy and CCBRT’s Capacity Building Program(s).

In 2019

The CCBRT Academy

On September 9, 2019, The CCBRT Academy at CCBRT’s hospital was officially inaugurated following its successful soft opening in 2018. In 2019, the Academy offered 143 different trainings covering a range of specializations, taught by 20 existing trainers who collectively instructed over 1,000 participants. This was the first step towards CCBRT’s goal of addressing the shortage of trained, frontline healthcare workers and hospital administrative personnel throughout Tanzania and East Africa.

In addition, CCBRT signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Dodoma and Glasgow Caledonia University for the delivery of nursing education at The CCBRT Academy. CCBRT also drafted the first CCBRT Academy Training Catalog, and developed the CCBRT Academy Business Plan 2020-2025, aiming for a sustainable social enterprise. In 2019, The CCBRT Academy rented its facilities to partners and third party organizations, generating over $15,000 ploughed back into continued training and the provision of high quality care.

We would like to thank our partners, Johnson & Johnson, and the UCLA Anderson School of Management, for their support of The CCBRT Academy. Thanks to your generosity, our colleagues at CCBRT were able to share their knowledge with over 1,000 healthcare providers, strengthening the existing healthcare system, in their own dedicated training facility.

Private Clinic

In March 2019, the Tanzanian Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDEC)officially opened the completed Private Clinic building. By December 2019, the CCBRT Private Clinic reported they were seeing an average of 4,500 patients per month, and over 46,000 patients had been seen since the beginning of the year.

Just as impressive is the increase in revenue the Private Clinic has produced, blowing past original projections, and reaching 77% of the required annual capacity to breakeven. This revenue is generated by offering the same high quality services as the CCBRT Disability Hospital, but also offering services such as ear, nose and throat (ENT) and gynecological services, plus extra conveniences in the clinic, which appeals to Dar es Salaam’s growing middle class. The revenue from The Private Clinic helps to subsidize the cost of care provided to patients who cannot afford to pay for their services.

By the Numbers

In 2019, CCBRT provided high quality rehabilitation and disability services to over 65,300 patients, including over 10,000 who received treatment free of charge. In addition, the generous support of our partners and the Government of Tanzania meant that we could provide:

Over 8,100 life changing surgeries
26,855 Orthopedics and Physical Rehab consultations
Comprehensive treatment for 478 women and girls living with obstetric fistula, and 90% of former fistula patients report remaining dry six months after surgery.
414 staff members participated in 883 training sessions, including Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

9,930 imaging consultations

77,444 consultations for sight restoring eye interventions, and 6,101 corrective surgeries
15,000 optical prescriptions and 9,600 spectacles distributed
6 surgical fellows trained at CCBRT, specializing in fistula repair and accredited by the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO).

Meet Asha ↓

Twenty-five years ago, Asha went to a local, Tanzania hospital to deliver her sixth child. After her delivery failed to progress over an extended period of time, she was rushed to the operating room. Tragically, the surgical intervention failed to save the life of her baby. Asha had suffered two miscarriages before this pregnancy, so this loss was devastating. In addition to the loss of her baby, she also developed an obstetric fistula during her prolonged labor. Her doctors kept her at the hospital for three months. Asha was constantly leaking urine. Her doctors did not know why, so they finally discharged her without a diagnosis. She returned to her community without her baby, without answers, and with no hope of treatment.

That was in 1994. In the twenty-five years that followed, her grief was compounded by the untreatable symptoms that often surround fistula: stigma, discrimination, exclusion, and abandonment. Her husband abandoned her, and she was left to raise her six children alone with no support from her community. For many women living with obstetric fistula, the isolation and shame that accompanies the physical injuries is often more painful than the condition. CCBRT uses many different methods to reach women and girls living with fistula in areas of the country where knowledge of fistula isn’t available. Through one of CCBRT’s radio announcements, Asha’s daughter heard about the holistic, comprehensive fistula treatment that was available for women just like her mom. She called CCBRT, and was connected to one of the 300 fistula ambassadors in her region. Together, they arranged for Asha’s travel to the CCBRT Disability Hospital where she received her treatment completely free of charge.

Twenty-five years later, Ahsa is finally dry. “I had lost hope, and couldn’t leave my house because of the shame I felt. Now, I am no longer leaking urine, and I thank God every day for the free treatment I received at CCBRT.”

Empowering People with Disabilities