ABSTRACT
Introduction Tanzania contains Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro; its most famous game park, Ngorongoro Crater; its largest game reserve, the Serengeti; and the three largest lakes on the continent lie on its borders. Tanzania embodies the Africa that people envision when they think of Africa. Tanzania is also one of the ten poorest countries in the world, a fact reflected by the woefully substandard state of healthcare in the country. Deaths from communicable and infectious diseases, which represent only 2% of total deaths in Europe, constitute nearly half of all deaths in Africa. There is a chronic shortage of doctors and other healthcare professionals, as well as a lack of national infrastructure to provide transportation and distribution of resources and services. Building healthcare and educational capacity under these conditions is extremely difficult.
