At 28 years old, Jalia Rwinza is the head nurse at a small dispensary in the Mara Region of Tanzania. She and her small team work together to make sure every person who visits—ranging from expectant mothers, children, and the elderly—receives quality primary health care. But she’s not only a health worker, she’s a neighbor, living a few hundred feet from the facility and from the clients she serves every day.
Today, she’s at her health facility and out in the community meeting with some of her neighbors, including two women who have questions about family planning, a family at a nearby farm who rely on Jalia for routine care, and a new mother whose baby needs a check-up.
These are her neighbors and this is the life-saving care she’s providing them.
Nurses like Jalia who live and work in their communities are the health workers who can help us achieve Universal Health Coverage. With a strong health system to back her up, Jalia strives to ensure equitable access to essential health services for everyone in her community, making sure that their health and well-being are not a privilege for a few but a right for all.
That means providing a wide range of care tailored to the individual needs of each client she sees, including maternal and newborn health services, family planning, HIV testing, vaccinations and tuberculosis screening.
“I live in the village and am very friendly, which makes it easier for clients to speak out and be more open when they are sharing information about their health,” she says. “I can tell the community really enjoys me serving them. Sometimes they will even come to my home looking for me to attend to their health needs.”
Client relationships are important to Jalia, and she makes sure clients feel respected and heard during their visits with health workers.
“I make sure my team is adhering to ethics and that clients are receiving quality services from everyone,” she says.
When two women arrive at her health facility in the morning with questions about family planning, she attends to both. One woman is pregnant and would like to explore postpartum family planning once she gives birth. In a month, the dispensary has an average of 24 women who receive PPFP services.
Through Jhpiego’s USAID-funded Afya Yangu project, Jalia has learned about new antenatal care guidelines, how to respond to malaria during pregnancy, postpartum family planning, and other topics. As she continuously hones her skills, she also tries to stay up to date on the health of her community by working closely with a diverse group from community health workers and lab technicians to medical attendants and nurses. She also connects with local leaders who talk to community members about the importance of seeking health services when they feel sick.
Jalia’s strong connection to community leaders and health volunteers became even more important when COVID-19 vaccinations became available in Tanzania. Together, they helped educate the community on the importance of vaccinating against the disease, recorded data and raised awareness by going house to house, making sure everyone was reached and informed.
This paid off.
“At first, it was hard to conduct these activities because of the myths that existed about the COVID-19 vaccine,” she said. “But after educating them, things changed, and the vaccine was accepted by almost 100%.”
Jalia knows that community health workers are trusted here so she partners with them on health initiatives like distributing HIV self-tests to those who need them. “They make it easy to provide health services, especially when we need to raise awareness about a health intervention,” she says.
Living alone next to the health facility, Jalia often finds comfort and comradery in the relationships she maintains with the people in her community. Her young daughter lives with family far away, and she visits only periodically.
The care she provides isn’t just business. It’s also personal.
“I try to make sure that everyone I meet leaves with a smile on their face and is satisfied with their services.” - Jalia Rwinza.
That’s why, when a young mother comes into the facility with her baby at the end of the day, Jalia sits down to talk to her, checking in on how she and her baby are doing and listening respectfully to the new mother.
After conducting routine testing, Jalia sees that the baby has malaria and gives the baby medication to save her life.
“I am happy when I help someone with their health challenges or complications,” she says. “I am happy to save lives.”
Chantelle Allen, RN, Senior Technical Advisor, Health Systems Quality at Jhpiego, provided a technical review of this story.
Frank Kimaro is a Senior Communications Specialist for Jhpiego Tanzania. Katherine Seaton is a Communications Manager for Jhpiego. Photos by Frank Kimaro.
