FOUNDATION FOR AFRICAN MEDICINE AND EDUCATION
Advancing Patient-Centered Care
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Before FAME hospital was built, there were three doctors for a population of 240,000 people. “Access” is not just a question of people having the resources or knowledge to engage in responsible health-seeking behavior; it is also a question of them reaching facilities that can actually help them. Far too many Tanzanians, particularly in the most rural parts of the country, still find themselves in poorly-equipped, poorly-staffed clinics and hospitals, even after traveling great distances for care. Tanzania has a country-wide shortage of well-trained, practicing healthcare workers with four physicians for every 100,000 people. These ratios become even larger when looking at the number of specialists in Tanzania, such as surgeons. Poorly-managed healthcare facilities, chronic supply shortages, the absence of critical equipment and infrastructure, and inadequate professional support – all contribute to the significant attrition rate of the country’s doctors.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Reproductive and Child Health
Providing services to mothers and their children through an advanced maternity center, pre and post natal care, and child vaccine program.
Outpatient, primary care
Our outpatient clinic opened in Karatu in 2008 and serves around 100 patients daily. The most common diseases our doctors treat in children and adults include acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, hypertension, gastrointestinal disease, skin infections, urinary tract infections, diabetes, ear infections, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Diagnostic Services
Our hospital has a laboratory and radiology department to help diagnose patients. We have both an X-Ray machine and CT scan
Inpatient Hospital
Opening in 2012, we have a 24-bed inpatient hospital that also includes an emergency room, 24-hour care clinic, recovery room/ICU, and 2 operating theaters.
General Surgery
With 2 operating theaters, we are able to serve our community's surgical needs. In 2021, we performed a total of 428 surgical procedures.
Capacity Building
At FAME, we've fostered a culture of continuous learning. Through our on-campus training programs, on-campus volunteers, online consulting program, and our scholarship program, our staff is constantly encouraged to continue enhancing their knowledge and skills.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of patients undergoing surgical procedures
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
General Surgery
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The number of major operations at FAME
Number of infants delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls
Related Program
Reproductive and Child Health
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of women who delivered at FAME
Number of patients who recieved lab tests
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Diagnostic Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The number of patients who received diagnostic tests from our Laboratory
Number of patient visits
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Outpatient, primary care
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The annual number of visits to our Outpatient Department
Number of overnight patient stays
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Inpatient Hospital
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of patient visits to our Inpatient Hospital
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
FAME is an organization entirely focused on advancing quality medical care in rural Tanzania. From the
beginning, we set out to provide communities in the Northern Highlands of Tanzania with a unique healthcare
experience – one marked by patient-centered care and high-quality service. In that spirit, FAME endeavors to
meet the medical needs of ordinary Tanzanian people, including underserved populations in the most rural
parts of the region.
Located outside the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, FAME is a hospital with an on-site laboratory, radiology
department with CT-scan and X-ray machine, outpatient clinic, inpatient ward, operating rooms, emergency
room, maternal center and dedicated reproductive and child health clinic. Additionally, FAME has a
multi-pronged education program designed to build the capacity of its almost all Tanzanian staff. With a
catchment area stretching 85 miles and reaching 2.9 million people, FAME's medical team sees almost 30,000
patients annually.
FAME's strategic plan is its vision for the future based on where we can strengthen, expand and/or
complement existing services to better meet the needs of the patients and communities we serve. This plan
builds on the foundation FAME laid 20 years ago and identifies the actions and investment needed to achieve
our strategic goals going forward. Internally, the strategic plan serves as a road map for all staff to align their
work and maximize the impact of our programs and services. Externally, it clearly communicates FAME’s
vision for the future and identifies the funding need and investment criteria required to achieve our goals.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1:
STRENGTHENING SURGERY AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
General surgery services continue to be resource-challenged in the Karatu region with limited access. Easily treatable conditions are fatal due to a lack of access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Blood supply shortages, limited operating rooms, and a lack of doctors trained to perform general surgery also contribute to this. Working in hand with this is the urgent need for emergency services in order to allow FAME to treat more complex cases and reduce the number of referrals it makes. With the nearest dedicated emergency department three hours away, FAME’s emergency response work is filling a critical gap in our region.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2:
GROWING PEDIATRIC CARE
FAME’s investment in reproductive, maternal and child health has established its reputation as an institution committed to the well-being of newborns, children and families. FAME is now looking to further expand its competence in pediatric medicine in order to address the challenges that children, mothers and families face as they begin to grow.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 3:
EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED
COVID-19 has illuminated the impact of unexpected events, like a pandemic, to cause a costly shifting of priorities and resources. Mitigating the adverse effects of pandemics, climate change and other potential natural and/or political shifts requires a pre-planned response system.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 4:
INVESTING IN QUALITY DATA
Accurate data tracking and analysis are crucial to support continuous quality improvement (CQI) around patient care, patient satisfaction, management decisions, budgeting, government and donor reporting and fundraising. Additionally, FAME’s success over the last 20-years has had lifelong impacts on its patients and far-reaching impacts on the livelihood, health, and wellbeing of the communities it serves. FAME is committed to measuring this impact!
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
FOUNDATION FOR AFRICAN MEDICINE AND EDUCATION
Board of directorsas of 03/18/2024
Michael Rubenstein
Frank L. Artress
Jeanne L. Artress
Susan Gustafson
Michael Rubenstein
Barb Dehn
Craig Wainscott
Mary Ann Zetes
John Stephenson
Dave Steinmetz
Ke Zhang
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/21/2024GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.