What You Need to Know
President Samia Suluhu Hassan is set to be the guest of honor at a charity event aimed at raising funds for 100 children suffering from sickle cell disease. The event, scheduled for May 8, 2026, at Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in Dodoma, aims to collect 7 billion Tanzanian shillings to cover kidney and bone marrow transplants for these children.
Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan is expected to be the guest of honor at a charity event to help 100 children with sickle cell disease receive bone marrow and kidney transplants at Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in Dodoma.
Speaking to reporters today, BMH Chief Executive Officer, Prof Abel Makubi, said that the fundraising goal through the charity is 7bn/-, which will help 100 patients, including 50 for kidney transplants and 50 for bone marrow transplants.
He said that bone marrow transplant services for children with Sickle Cell disease at the hospital began in 2023, with a clinic providing treatment for patients with blood diseases and those in need of bone marrow transplant services.
He said a total of 28 children have received bone marrow transplants for a total of 1.9bn/- services that have helped save 1.3bn/-if these treatments were done abroad.
He said that the collaboration is scheduled to take place on May 08, 2026, in Dodoma. He has appealed to all Organizations, Institutions, companies, citizens, and various Stakeholders to participate in supporting the treatment of Liver transplantation for children with Selimundu disease and Kidney transplantation for citizens in need by donating money through the following channels: Control Number 995220798235 Name: BMH Organ Transplant and Account Number 102501000407 (BOT) Name: BMH Organ Transplant.
For his part, the Director of Medical and Professional Services from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Dr David Mwenesano on behalf of the Director General of the Fund Dr Irene Isaka commended the leadership of BMH
for coming up with the idea of saving the lives of children with Selimundu disease and citizens in need of kidney transplants, diseases that are very expensive to treat.
“Recognizing that the costs of these treatments are high and not easy for the average Tanzanian to afford, this method of contributing through a partnership provides an opportunity for all of us to participate.
At the beginning of this issue, when the Executive Director of BMH was looking for ways to help facilitate these treatments, he involved us, so we as NHIF are major stakeholders in the health sector and we saw it as good to partner with BMH to achieve the availability of these funds,” said Dr Mwenesano.
He continued to say that the Fund has been covering some of the services for these diseases, so due to the size of its costs, the Government has been bearing the high costs, so this partnership will help expand these services and reach more patients.
As a result, he said that the Fund has continued to make various improvements in its services, including designing packages that provide opportunities for every Tanzanian to have Health Insurance, especially during this period when we are implementing Universal Health Insurance.
Other improvements that are being made include continuing to add Medical services to the Kitita according to the Fund’s capacity, in addition to that, the improvement of various systems that simplify the Fund’s work.
In Tanzania, sickle cell disease is a significant health challenge, affecting many children and requiring costly treatments such as bone marrow and kidney transplants. The government and health organizations have been working to improve healthcare access and affordability for these treatments. The establishment of transplant services at Benjamin Mkapa Hospital marks a crucial step in addressing the needs of affected children, providing them with necessary medical care within the country rather than abroad, which is often prohibitively expensive.
