Reducing deaths and injury from road traffic crashes through multisectoral collaboration.

Introduction: road traffic injuries are the eighth cause of mortality globally, killing about 1.35 million people and leaving more than 50 million others with permanent injuries and disabilities yearly. In Tanzania, the impact of road traffic crashes is still high despite a noticeable reduction in the number of associated injuries. This paper seeks to lay the foundation for promoting multisectoral actions and collaborations in dealing with public health concerns due to increased consequences caused by road traffic deaths and injuries. Methods: in 2015, a multisectoral approach was adopted to implement a 5-year (2015-2020) road safety program that aimed to advocate for amendment of the Road Traffic Act of 1973, Chapter 168 Revised Edition 2002. A series of consultative sessions were held between government and non-state actors, including different committees formed to feed each other on the agenda. The program was implemented through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with World Health Organisation and civil society organisations. Results: it has been noted that there is a direct relation with a set of combined policy-level interactions seeking to improve the legal environment for road safety. The program committee, civil society organisations, and parliamentarians' forum were solicited as essential stakeholders in advancing policy reform. Together they conducted a series of consultative meetings, resulting in having a Bill tabled in the Parliament as a first draft. This informed policymakers and raised their attention to the magnitude of road traffic crashes and the country's social and economic burden. Conclusion: efforts still need to be expanded to analyse the existing data to understand the extent to which risk factors contribute to road crashes, injuries, and deaths. There is a need to have a strong Government involvement in strengthening ownership and sustainability of any public health intervention, such as road safety.

Process of developing Country Cooperation Strategy in Tanzania, as an effective tool for aligning WHO's support to the member state in achieving health and health-related sustainable development goal.

Introduction: an organization's long-term success and relevance are linked with compelling strategic development. To that end, the country office of WHO in the United Republic of Tanzania, in collaboration with stakeholders, developed a 6-year Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS), 2022-2027. This paper describes the various steps taken in developing the CCS for the United Republic of Tanzania. Methods: we reviewed the global guideline for the development of CCS. In addition, we analysed documents on the national health sector strategic plan, the 13th Global Program of Work for WHO (GPW13), and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). We also reviewed data from routine HMIS, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD), and assessment results of the UN on the status of SDGs through the Common Country Assessment (CCA). Results: the performance on the overall Universal Health Coverage (UHC) effective coverage index, on a scale of 0-100, for Tanzania improved from 45.2 in 2010 to 55.2 in 2019. Strengthening health systems, protecting communities against public health emergencies, reducing or controlling exposure of individuals to risk factors, and better health governance, leadership, and accountability were the identified priorities for the CCS. Conclusion: the process of alignment of the CCS document with the national and global strategic goals would help the WHO to support and lead the country's effort towards achieving health-related SDGs. We believe the process we employed will lead to having detailed operational plans for implementation for achieving SDG targets. Keywords: Country cooperation strategy (CCS), sustainable development goal (SDG), strategic document, 13th global program of work (GPW13), health sector strategy, stakeholders, Tanzania.