Historical Background

Historical Background

Background

Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital was established in 1926 as a sanatorium for holding and managing TB cases. In 1952, it was rededicated as a national tuberculosis hospital, serving much of East Africa and Central Africa. Beginning in 2006, the Ministry of Health assigned Kibong’oto the role of managing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The hospital currently provides services for the management of TB, TB /HIV co-infection, MDR-TB, and HIV, with a greater focus on the management of Infectious Diseases along with Non-Communicable Diseases. In November 2010, the Minister of Health announced that Kibong’oto would transform into a National infectious disease hospital.

Kibong’oto is an Infectious Disease Hospital, fully funded by the Ministry of Health (MoH) with a bed Capacity of 300 beds, out of which 120 are for MDR-TB Patients, manned by 300 Staff. The goal of the KIDH as it pursues its Road Map towards becoming a parastatal “center of excellence,” is primarily providing national and regional training, research, and teaching opportunities, Surveillance cum best practices in infectious diseases management and treatment. Already a known expert in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB), KIDH will build its capacity to share the knowledge and skills it has gained in diagnosis, treatment, and care. As a government agency, Kibong’oto will accept and manage funds from the Tanzanian government, other partners, as well as donors

Location

Geographically, the Hospital is in Siha district, Kilimanjaro region. It occupies an estimated area of 95.5 acres, of which one-third is currently used. It is connected by a 17 km tarmac road to the Moshi–Arusha highway and is about 32 km from Kilimanjaro International Airport. It is easily accessible from both Moshi and Arusha, significant cities located in the northern tourist corridor of Tanzania.

 History

The hospital was started in 1926 by Dr. Norman Davies, a British physician, as a sanatorium for patients with tuberculosis; formerly, it was a coffee research center under the German Empire. At that time, TB was one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world, especially in areas where poverty prevailed. Following the discovery of anti-TB drugs in the early 1940s, Lady Twining, the wife of Sir Edward Twining - the last British Governor for Tanganyika - the hospital was officially inaugurated as a TB hospital. It served the whole sub-region of East Africa, including Somalia. The use of anti-TB drugs was associated with the development of drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) worldwide because of the monotherapy approach; this added to the list of failing drugs in the 1940s. When combination TB therapy was started in the 1950s, Kibong’oto was the sole hospital managing patients using drugs and surgical interventions.

Upon Tanzania’s independence in 1961, the hospital has remained a referral center for complicated TB cases, treating severe drug reactions, treatment failure, and nomads; however, with no major change in its infrastructure or human resources. The resurgence of TB as a major infection, largely driven by the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, led to an increase in resistance to anti-TB drugs. In Tanzania, MDR-TB was estimated to be 1.1% and 3.7% in new and retreatment TB cases, respectively, according to the national drug-resistant surveillance conducted in 2006-2007. In recognition of the need to respond to this threat, MoH 2006 decided to assign Kibong’oto Hospital the role of managing MDR-TB, while HIV care and treatment services started in 2005 - this made TB/HIV services possible to implement. The hospital was renamed the Kibong’oto National TB Hospital (KNTH). In November 2010, the Hospital, through Government Gazette number 828, was pronounced to become an Infectious Diseases Hospital henceforth.