Historical Background

Back in 1997, I met with Prof. Gail Hanscom Reiner in the USA; she inspired me to pursue the career of clinical medicine. During casual conversations she introduced me to the book titled “Gifted Hands” by Dr. Ben Carson a distinguished professor at the Johns Hopkins University USA. Having read this book, Dr. Ben became my professional Hero and the Johns Hopkins University also became my life time dream University. The biggest question that bothered my mind in my entire career was this: I couldn’t stand the fact that people came to tertiary (also teaching) hospitals with severe advanced stage of diseases. Some patients did not even know what went wrong with their health in spite of living with the illness for months/years and other unfortunately died before definitive diagnosis was established. During my third year of medical school [2000], I visited my parents in up-country and happened to visit my primary school teacher whom I was told was ill. She had an unsightly open wound on her breast and was experiencing excruciating pain. She did not know what was wrong with her, and the only thing she was told four years back by her health care provider was that her problem would go away if she was to have a baby. I had to stand against the referral system by taking her straight to the tertiary hospital affiliated with my medical school: I suspected she had breast cancer which was confirmed to be the case. It was unfortunate that the disease was already advanced and she died a year later in indescribable suffering without completing the initial doses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In 2008 my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer after having symptoms of the disease for over 3 year but due to African culture and norms he did not discuss his symptoms and seek health services. He was taken to a tertiary hospital where he learned that the disease was already advanced and sadly his health deteriorated and he died of prostate cancer within one year of his diagnosis. I was hurt by these two scenarios, which occurred purely due to lack of health-self-awareness and systems that contains long delays in making diagnoses. These scenarios sharpened my vision but I struggled with how I was going to make significant changes to improve Tanzanian healthcare. In 2011, I was privileged to join the Johns Hopkins University (USA), my life time dream university, to pursue a Master’s degree in public health. I met with Dr. Ben Carson who inspired me to hold onto my vision: through his book and our time face-to-face. It is through this background, I was motivated to establish the Community Center for Preventive Medicine. I hope that through CCPmedicine’s mission, in collaboration with the government and other stake holders, one day there will be no more sufferings due to lack of health information and lack of opportunity for early disease detection in Tanzania and Africa at large. Kindly join me and the CCPmedicine family to make a difference in our health and the families belong to us!!!