Emily Bell — Touch Foundation Proud to Serve in Partnership with President Kikwete

Last week, we were thrilled to have His Excellency President Jakaya Kikwete at a dinner co-hosted by the Touch Foundation and Barrick Gold. The occasion – which drew a diverse group of leaders from the public and private sector – underscored the importance of our blog’s theme this month: government and NGO partnership.

At the dinner on Sept 23, President Kikwete, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, remarked:

“We are very appreciative of the support of Touch Foundation. So I came here to say thank you, Touch Foundation. I came here to tell all of you, to ask all of you to continue to assist Touch Foundation. Build the capacity so that they can help us…Train the doctors who are going to save so many lives – the women who are in need, the children who are dying of malaria, the many people who are dying of diseases that can be cured, diseases that can be eliminated.”

President Kikwete has been a vital partner for the Touch Foundation. His support for our work has enabled Touch to work closely with Tanzanian partners to train hundreds of new health workers and to lay the groundwork for improved healthcare services.

We salute the President’s efforts to expand access to healthcare in his own country as well as his leadership on healthcare in Africa. He has also become a critical partner to the US. An AllAfrica.com article this week noted that Tanzania “has emerged as East Africa’s star player on the US pitch.”

The Touch Foundation will be posting video excerpts and a full write up on the Sept 23 dinner on our website shortly. In addition to President Kikwete, participants included Ray Chambers, Special Envoy to the UN Secretary General for Malaria; Ambassador Eric Goosby, US Global AIDS Coordinator; Rajat Gupta, Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the UN and former Chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; H. E. Augustine Mahiga, Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the UN; and Honorable Prof. David Mwakyusa, Tanzania’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare.

FOR FULL WRITE-UP ON THE EVENT, READ THIS ARTICLE ON OUR TOUCH FOUNDATION WEBSITE.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SHORT VIDEO OF PRESIDENT KIKWETE AT TOUCH FOUNDATION EVENT.

Emily Bell is Head of Advocacy and Communications at the Touch Foundation.