Evaluation of the Universal Salt Iodization (USI) surveillance system in Tanzania, 2022.

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of surveillance systems has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the performance and areas for improvement. Universal salt iodization (USI) as one of the surveillance systems in Tanzania needs periodic evaluation for its optimal function. This study aimed at evaluating the universal salt iodization (USI) surveillance system in Tanzania from January to December 2021 to find out if the system meets its intended objectives by evaluating its attributes as this was the first evaluation of the USI surveillance system since its establishment in 2010. The USI surveillance system is key for monitoring the performance towards the attainment of universal salt iodization (90%). METHODOLOGY: This evaluation was guided by the Center for Disease Control Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems, (MMWR) to evaluate USI 2021 data. The study was conducted in Kigoma region in March 2022. Both Purposive and Convenient sampling was used to select the region, district, and ward for the study. The study involved reviewing documents used in the USI system and interviewing the key informants in the USI program. Data analysis was done by Microsoft Excel and presented in tables and graphs. RESULTS: A total of 1715 salt samples were collected in the year 2021 with 279 (16%) of non-iodized salt identified. The majority of the system attributes 66.7% had a good performance with a score of three, 22.2% had a moderate performance with a score of two and one attribute with poor performance with a score of one. Data quality, completeness and sensitivity were 100%, acceptability 91.6%, simplicity 83% were able to collect data on a single sample in < 2 minutes, the system stability in terms of performance was >75% and the usefulness of the system had poor performance. CONCLUSION: Although the system attributes were found to be working overall well, for proper surveillance of the USI system, the core attributes need to be strengthened. Key variables that measure the system performance must be included from the primary data source and well-integrated with the Local Government (district and regions) to Ministry of Health information systems.

Explaining progress towards Millennium Development Goal 4 for child survival in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: During the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era (1990-2015) the government in Mainland Tanzania and partners launched numerous initiatives to advance child survival including the comprehensive One Plan for Maternal Newborn and Child Health in 2008-2015 and a "sharpened" One Plan strategy in early 2014. Moving into the Sustainable Development Goal era, the government needs to learn from successes and challenges of striving towards MDG 4. METHODS: We expand previous work by presenting data for the full MDG period and sub-national results. We used data from six nationally-representative household surveys conducted between 1999 and 2015 to examine trends in coverage of 22 lifesaving maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition (MNCH&N) interventions, nutritional status (stunting; wasting) and breastfeeding practice across Mainland Tanzania and sub-nationally in seven standardized geographic zones. We used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to model the relative contribution of included interventions which saved under 5 lives during the period from 2000-2015 compared to 1999 on a national level and within the seven zones. FINDINGS: Child survival and nutritional status improved across Mainland Tanzania and in each of the seven zones across the 15-year period. MNCH&N intervention coverage varied widely and across zones with several key interventions declining across Mainland Tanzania or in specific geographical zones during all or part the period. According to our national LiST model, scale-up of 22 MNCH&N interventions - together with improvements in breastfeeding practice, stunting and wasting - saved 838 460 child lives nationally between 2000 and 2015. CONCLUSIONS: Mainland Tanzania has made significant progress in child survival and nutritional outcomes but progress cannot be completely explained by changes in intervention coverage alone. Further examination of the implementation and contextual factors shaping these trends is important to accelerate progress in the SDG era.