Tanzania is a large country in East Africa, with a population of around 65 million people. It borders eight countries including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

Tanzania is the destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping violence and political instability from Burundi and the DRC. Among these are many older people who need urgent support.

Older people in Tanzania face significant challenges. With only 5.8% of older people receiving pensions, many work well into older age (source: HelpAge Tanzania). Physically intensive jobs like farming become harder as they age, meaning they are less able to work, leading to lower incomes.  

Older people and people with disabilities in Tanzania also struggle to access adequate healthcare. Many older people and people with disabilities have difficulty getting the care they need, despite the promise of free healthcare, because public health facilities lack resources. 

We work with our partners in Tanzania to improve the lives of older people across the country. We work to improve refugees' lives and upgrade health services, ensuring that older people get the care they need.  

Watch the video below to see more of the work done by our partner in Tanzania.

Between 1960 and 2020, life expectancy in Tanzania rose from 43 to 66 years. This is a huge improvement, and a reflection on how sustained work leads to impressive outcomes. However, this is still significantly below the global average of 73 years, and has even fallen since 2021. Additionally, longer life spans means a greater number of older people who each have their own specific health needs.  

At Age International, we work with our local partners to improve access to quality health and care services among older people and people with disabilities. Our partner, HelpAge Tanzania, support thousands of public health facilities to deliver age-friendly health services that ensure older people's wellbeing and dignity across Tanzania. Specifically, this includes: 

• Policy influencing to be more inclusive of older people
• Supporting the government to develop guidelines and improve the provision of health services
• Providing home-based care  
• Improving the provision and scale up of assistive technology
• Awareness raising amongst medical practitioners  

At Age International, we support several projects that work to improve healthcare in Tanzania for older people. Currently we have a project funded by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and AT Scale. This project aims to promote enabling environments to allow more older people and people with disabilities to access assistive technologies in Tanzania. This can then create system change for the Government to scale up provision through a national Assistive Technology Strategy. Click here to read more. 

In addition, we have supported a programme funded by the World Health Organization, that facilitated Training in Assistive Products (TAP). TAP is designed to prepare healthcare workers to fulfil an assistive technology role. This may include identifying people who may benefit from assistive technology (e.g. magnifiers and dressing aids), or referral for more complex products and other services. 

Across Tanzania, many older people face challenges of discrimination and abuse because of their age or disabilities. Many older women face gender-based violence, and many people still believe in witchcraft, even though a Witchcraft Law has been passed. Within the country, there are weak institutional capacities to address violence and neglect, and Tanzania still lacks a formal legal system for protecting older women’s rights.  

We work to improve protection from violence, abuse and neglect among older people and persons with disabilities in Tanzania. There is already a movement towards positive change in the rights of older people, and we work with our partners to strengthen this movement. Killings of older women accused of being witches has significantly declined from 765 people in 2013, to 14 in 2023, however violence and accusations do still exist and more needs to be done. 

Older people are often unable to advocate for public services that support their needs. Across Tanzania, there are high levels of illiteracy and older people can have limited understanding of their own right to social and health care, and equity and inclusion. This can act as a barrier in creating better systems to support older people. ​

Overall, civil society in Tanzania does not yet fully and effectively champion older people’s voices. However, there has been great progress establishing older people’s associations (OPAs). OPAs are innovative informal community-based structures led by older people, that identify issues and find solutions to improve their lives. There are now more than 20,000 OPAs in all 184 districts throughout the country, as well as 26 at the regional level and at the national level formed with the Government.  

Tanzania is the destination for hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping violence and political instability from Burundi and the DRC. Among these are many older people and people with specific needs who need urgent support. It is a forgotten and protracted crisis. 

Nyarugusu, Tanzania is the third largest refugee camp in the world, and due to the recent escalating violence in the DRC in February 2023, there has been an influx of refugees with increasing needs.   

In July 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that around 213,000 refugees were being hosted in camps based in Nyarugusu and Nduta. Of these, 7% are people with specific needs, including:  

• Older people
• People with disabilities
• People with serious medical conditions such as cognitive impairments
• People with mental health conditions
• Children with cerebral palsy

The Tripartite Agreement between the governments of Burundi, Tanzania and UNHCR is promoting the voluntary repatriation of refugees from Nduta camp in 2024.  

The refugee crisis is exacerbated by other challenges within Tanzania and in border countries. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a combined measure of a country’s life expectancy, education, and income. In 2022, Tanzania scored 0.532 on the HDI, placing it in the lowest classification of development (ranked 167 out of 193 countries/territories). Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world (scoring 0.42 in 2022, ranking it 187 out of 193 countries).  

We support our partner, HelpAge Tanzania, in their response to the refugee crisis, specifically supporting Burundian and Congolese refugees in Nyarugusu and Nduta camps, as well as host communities in north-west Tanzania. They provide: 

• Protection support for people with specific needs
• Assistive devices and rehabilitation and prosthetics for people with disabilities  
• Cash assistance and non-food items (e.g. blankets, containers for water, soap) 
• Community-based rehabilitation  
• Psychosocial support and intergenerational activities