Tanzania faces a number of challenges in the area of healthcare, including a lack of resources, high mortality rates, and low rates of access to medical personnel. The government is working to combat these issues, identifying the importance of improving the quality of health services as a priority in its 2022/23 budget1. According to the International Trade Administration, Tanzania will be focusing on issues including “strengthening the delivery of vaccines for children under the age of five and strengthening the quality of delivery of health services in the country.”2 This need for an increase in trained medical staff can be seen reflected in ASEC’s programs—since 2014, ASEC has enrolled over 100 sisters from Tanzania in programs related to medicine in our HESA and Scholarship programs.
Sr. Catherine Felix Kimario, SCC, is a graduate of ASEC’s Scholarship Program, having earned a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Santa Maria Institute of Health and Allied Sciences in 2023. She now works at the Holy Cross Health Centre in Kihonda, Tanzania, a facility that serves more than 1,000 patients annually. What she has found through her work is that many of their patients are reluctant to use the medicine they are given, or do not finish the full course of medication, particularly antibiotics. A large part of the work Sr. Catherine does is counseling the patients, educating them on why it is so important for them to follow the instructions properly and what could happen if they do not. In particular, she emphasizes the dangers of antimicrobial resistance, a problem that has posed a significant health threat in Tanzania3. She credits her studies with giving her not only the knowledge that allows her to perform her duties, but also a sense of authority and confidence in herself as she works both with her patients as well as helping to keep the pharmacy running smoothly and efficiently.
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The pharmacy at Holy Cross Health Centre, where Sr. Catherine ensures medications are dispensed correctly and managed efficiently for over 1,000 patients each year.
When she began her ministry, Sr. Catherine was assigned to teach catechism, and while she greatly enjoyed that experience, her main interest was to get involved in the field of health care. Her superiors were aware of this, and when the opportunity arose, supported her wish to pursue her diploma. She has already benefited professionally from the training she received through the Scholarship program, and hopes in future to be able to further her studies in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Prior to becoming a Scholarship recipient, Sr. Catherine had not had a lot of experience with ASEC and its programs. She was very impressed by the Scholarship Orientation she attended, in particular, having the opportunity to meet sisters from so many different congregations, all with the common goal of furthering their education in order to better serve their congregations and communities. Since its beginnings as the pilot country for the Scholarship program in 2012, Tanzania has selected over 590 sisters and women to further their education in diploma and certificate programs as well as at the secondary school level. Each graduate has taken the knowledge and skills gained back to their congregations and communities in order to improve the lives of those they serve.
