TB Research in Tanzania
Tanzania ranks among the 22 TB high burden countries in the world and has a population of around 45 million (2012). Tanzania was one of five countries piloting the «DOTS strategy» in the 1980-ies, lead and monitored by dr K.Styblo. All facilities dealing with TB treatment, public as well as private, report to the NTLP and are supervised and get the standard drugs from there, and TB drugs are banned from the free market. In Tanzania, every year around 60000 new cases and around 2900 retreatment cases are notified, whereas the estimated annual incidence is around 80,000 cases. The HIV prevalence among the population of 15-45 years is 5.8% (WHO 2011), and is generalised. The estimated proportion of TB cases with MDR TB is 1.1% (WHO 2012).
A prevalence survey has been conducted in Tanzania, and Dr Mbazi Senkoro is among the researchers. He is a PhD candidate at CIH and plans to write several papers about the burden of pulmonary TB in Tanzania, and its associations to various determinants.
PhD students
Ongoing studies
Andrew Kilale. Research topic: Transmission dynamics of environmental mycobacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex infections in pastoral communities in Tanzania
Julius Muhumuza. Research topic: The epidemiology and diagnosis of mycobacterial diseases in Tanzania.
An integrated study of Environmental mycobacteria, zoonotic mycobacteria and Mycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB) complex in rural-pastoral and urban populations in Tanzania.
Mbazi Senkoro. Research topic: Burden of pulmonary TB and its major determinants within the framework of a national TB survey in Tanzania.
Completed PhD
Esther Ngadaya (PhD 2010). PhD thesis: Passive case finding: Diagnostic approaches, cost and delay in TB management
in Dar es Salaam and Pwani regions, Tanzania”
Bernhard J. Ngowi (PhD 2009). PhD thesis: HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis coinfection in rural Northern Tanzania. Epidemiology, clinical presentation and impact on CD4 T cel counts.
Eliud Wandwalo (PhD 2005). PhD thesis: Community tuberculosis care in Tanzania: The role of direct observation of tuberculosis treatment.
G. Sayoki Mfinanga (PhD 2003): PhD thesis: Mycobacterial adenities in Arusha, Tanzania: Epidemiology and diagnostic challenges.