District health care at Tari until 1991

This paper traces the history and development of health care at Tari up until 1991. It focuses on Tari District Hospital as the hub of district health care and describes conditions for health delivery in the district. Patterns of morbidity and mortality are contrasted between the hospital and the community, using Tari Research Unit data for comparison. Health improvements achieved over the two decades before 1991 are due mainly to curative health care. However, the pattern of disease has changed little. Pneumonia is highly prevalent and is associated with high case fatality rates among infants in hospital. Improvements in health status are only likely if living conditions improve and community-based responses develop. The implementation of a primary health care approach, and specific measures to improve hospital and health service outcomes would also assist. Health services are under severe pressure from population growth coupled with declining budgets, the breakdown in law and order, and the burdens of HIV/AIDS and noncommunicable disease.