The PTWC was established in April 2007 through Prevention Through Empowerment (PTE), in partnership with CACHA and the Kilimanjaro Women Information Exchange and Consultancy Organization (KWIECO).

The objective of the PTWC is to improve health in the Kilimanjaro Region through access to affordable, high quality and innovative health care models and addressing the social determinants of health. The PTWC is able to do this by assisting women affected by the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS; raising awareness of the disease by offering free medical treatment and HIV testing through a medical clinic; bi-annual medical caravans; and outreach initiatives in at-risk communities.

Current Work

Each year, the PTWC, the clinic and its outreach programs:

• Reach more than 11,000 patients
• Over 65% are women and children
• Offer general medical and pediatric consultations, ophthalmology, gynecology, and HIV testing

To support the community, the PTWC:

• Supports 13 young girls in school
• Supports 10 women through various micro-finance enterprises

PURE: Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological Study

• This research project, brought to life by Dr. Karen Yeates, tracks a cohort over 15 years on their changing lifestyles, risk factors, and chronic disease, and how the environment and built environment impacts on their health.

The Kilimanjaro Cervical Cancer Screening Project

• This project helped screen over 1,000 women for cervical cancer by providing a non-physician health care worker with a smartphone camera and text messaging to bring screening into rural areas in Tanzania
• The results of this projects have been published in the Journal of Global Oncology under the title “Evaluation of a smartphone-based training strategy among health care workers screened for cervical cancer in Northern Tanzania: The Kilimanjaro Method”

Next Steps

PTWC aims to expand its health outreach activities and connect them with education campaigns and community engagement. Ultimately, the PTWC would like to create a health feedback loop, with each part of the system feeding into another.

One of these micro-finance enterprises is the solar lantern/phone charging project.
It provides families with an alternative source of energy, which in turn saves money, improves health, and increases study time for children

Spending of funds is confined to CACHA programs and projects approved by CACHA’s Board of Directors. Each contribution directed toward an approved program or project will be used as restricted with the understanding that when the need for such a program or project has been met, or cannot be completed for any reason, the Board will determine the reallocation of  remaining restricted contributions.