Scaling Up Lifesaving Care in Tanzania: The Latest from the EECCiT Programme

Over the last two weeks, exciting progress has been made in Tanzania’s Essential Emergency and Critical Care in Tanzania (EECCiT) programme. In a significant step forward, healthcare professionals from six regions gathered in Dar es Salaam for a series of intensive training workshops that are helping to scale up EECC across the country.

EECCiT Implementation session in Dar es Salaam

EECC—Essential Emergency and Critical Care—is a package of simple but vital interventions designed to save lives. It focuses on things like monitoring vital signs, providing oxygen therapy, administering intravenous fluids, managing airways, and training staff to quickly recognise and respond to critical illness. While these interventions are low-cost, they can make the difference between life and death for critically ill patients.

Tanzania has committed to embedding EECC into its national health system through a National Strategic Plan for EECC Services (2023–2026). The EECCiT programme is the result of collaboration between the Tanzanian government, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), UNICEF, and Global Affairs Canada through the CanGive initiative. With support from global experts, the programme is being implemented in five regions—Dar es Salaam, Kigoma, Katavi, Songwe, and Mtwara—over an 18-month period. It also includes important research into health economics and implementation strategies, aiming to support a nationwide rollout over the next five years.

The recent training in Dar es Salaam marked a crucial phase in the programme’s implementation. For three days, prescribing physicians and nurses from the selected regions received hands-on training in EECC, equipping them with the skills to recognise and respond to critical illness using simple, effective techniques that can be used in any hospital setting. Topics included:

• Early identification of critical illness using vital signs

• Airway management, including positioning and clearing obstructions

• Oxygen therapy and breathing support

• Fluid resuscitation and managing bleeding

• Responding to unconsciousness and seizure care

• Infection control, pain management, and more

This training was developed by the EECC Network and is freely available at www.eeccglobal.org/training, making it accessible to healthcare workers everywhere.

But the training didn’t stop there. On day four, participants learned how to teach EECC to others, becoming trainers who will now return to their home regions to cascade this vital knowledge to colleagues. On day five, they received training on how to serve as "focal persons"—key individuals responsible for overseeing the local rollout of EECC, collecting data, and ensuring that the interventions continue to be delivered effectively and consistently.

Dr Tim Baker - co-founder of EECC Global - introducing the training

Recognising the importance of leadership, the programme also included two days of EECC training for regional hospital leaders. Their involvement ensures strong support at the management level and helps foster collaboration between hospital leadership and frontline clinicians.

These developments are more than just capacity building—they represent a growing movement to make critical care accessible to everyone, everywhere. By training a network of skilled healthcare workers and embedding EECC into the heart of the health system, Tanzania is leading the way in showing how essential, lifesaving care can be scaled up nationally.

As the EECCiT programme continues, the data and experience gathered from these regions will inform a costed plan for national expansion—bringing us closer to a future where no patient is denied the emergency and critical care they need.