Under its Elderly Care and Support Program, Highlands Hope Umbrella in partnership with the Ingram School of Nursing at McGill University and the TANWAT Company Hospital will work with a group of 41 seniors from the communities of Itulike and Kibena to provide a core package of basic health care services that reflects local disease burdens and best practices of geriatric care in resource-poor settings.

The focus of the project is to continue ongoing research into assistive technologies of benefit to seniors in the Njombe and to track in detail the real costs of a basic hospital-based health care package designed for them. As well, the project’s impact on the health and well-being of this sample group of seniors through ongoing documentation and research efforts by HHU, Ingram School, and TANWAT Hospital.

The project will also undertake a local, regional, and national advocacy effort to put the issue of the necessity of providing funded, basic care for seniors clearly on the table for any new care and funding systems that are implemented as Tanzania moves toward Universal Health Coverage; the project may also explore private insurance options for seniors care with the data developed by the research-action.