The Tanzania Rehabilitation Strategic Plan
What’s the plan?
The Rehabilitation Strategic Plan - the first of its kind in Tanzania - sets an important goal: to increase access for all citizens to equitable and quality rehabilitation, delivered by qualified multi-disciplinary professional teams.
We are hugely proud of the role we can play in building a health system that delivers high quality, timely rehabilitation to all that need it, by continuing to strive toward our own mission and vision.
What does ‘rehabilitation' actually mean?
Rehabilitation is a huge part of what we do. It basically covers everything that happens after surgery: the healing and recovery that allows each child to step into a healthy, happy future.
It differs case by case, but this crucial part of the journey we offer often includes wound healing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, gait training…
We also design games and activities to promote muscle-building, joint flexion and movement that teaches children how to use their bodies post-disability.
More broadly, rehabilitation done right facilitates recovery, prevents complications, reduces the likelihood of readmission, and optimises the outcomes of surgical interventions.
Why do we need to make it better?
Unfortunately, the need for rehabilitation hugely outstrips its availability. According to the Global Burden of Disease study, the prevalence of conditions associated with severe disability (and therefore linked with rehabilitation needs) has increased in Tanzania over the last 20 years.
As Tanzania's health system advances and is able to provide more medical and surgical interventions, more rehabilitation is needed to ensure successful outcomes. In short, the specialised, high-intensity rehabilitation care that we provide is very limited - and the government is on a mission to address that.
How our work aligns
We are so proud that our work resonates with the broader national vision, and that our goals and the government’s are so aligned. The four objectives that underpin the plan’s vision - and the ways our work supports them - are as follows.
1. Strengthen rehabilitation leadership, planning, and generation of evidence and information
Ensuring our work is evidence-based and data-driven is one of our top priorities, and because there are no national indicators for rehabilitation yet, we adapted our own using international standards.
We use the Pirani Score for clubfoot, and surgical and medical standards from Smile Train for cleft lip and palate.
We have also customised American Occupational Therapy indicators for cleft patients, and used AOT indicators to create a functionality assessment for fluorosis. When we assess our patients, we measure and record against these indicators, entering all data into our customised database.
Our Outreach Programme raises public awareness about rehabilitation, and we forge public-private partnerships with regional and district hospitals who provide rehabilitative services.
We team up with like minded organisations that also align with government health priorities - one of which is Management and Development for Health (MDH). MDH works closely with the government, and together, we are the secretariat that spearheads the national Birth Defect Think Tank.
2. Increase the availability of rehabilitation services and expand financing
Our Outreach team visits hospitals, health centres, dispensaries, village offices and schools to spread the message about our services, and to screen children who could benefit from our care.
Our Mamas Education and Safari Company Programmes foster Kafka House ambassadors and champions of our cause, and improve early identification of children with treatable disabilities. All of these activities spread the word about our rehabilitative services, and make them more accessible to those who need them.
3. Strengthen and expand the rehabilitation workforce
By providing professional development to our occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and nurses, we are upskilling and strengthening the rehabilitative sector’s talent.
We also offer fieldwork placements for medical students, helping to train the next generation of rehabilitation specialists.
Our internship programme contributes to the professional development of graduates from the School of St. Jude, Rift Valley Children’s Fund, and others.
4. Increase the access to and provision of assistive products
We discharge children with the assistive products they need: shoes for those undergoing treatment for clubfoot; prosthetic devices where children have had amputations; splints for children whose burn scar contractures have been treated; and even a prosthetic eye. In 2024, we issued assistive devices to 47 children.
We are proud of the part we play in expanding access to quality healthcare for all Tanzanians, and ensuring that children with disabilities receive the holistic care and support they need to step into the healthy, happy futures they deserve.