The NEST360 program which is implemented in Tanzania by Ifakara Health Institute and partners handed over to the Mbeya University of Science and Technology (MUST) new-born equipment for training biomedical engineers in the southern-highland regions.

A brief ceremony to hand over the equipment was held in the afternoon of Friday July 23rd 2022 at the MUST campus in Mbeya and attended by representatives from the Mbeya regional medical office, regional reproductive and child health coordination office, and Mbeya Regional Referral Hospital.

MUST Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic, Research and Consultancy affairs, Prof. Godliving Mtui, who represented the MUST vice-chancellor, Prof. Aloys Mvuma, received the facility from NEST program coordinator, Donat Shamba. The MUST team included College of Science and Technical Education Principal, Dr. John Pius John.

The skills-lab housing the new-born equipment will be used to train clinicians and biomedical engineers in Mbeya and the entire southern-highland regions on effective use and handling of new-born equipment – a skill set NEST found in the implementation of their program to be lacking among most health practitioners.

The NEST program coordinator, Shamba, informed that NEST plans to build five similar labs in other zones in Tanzania under a partnership arrangement with institutions that can work with the program to address the issue of lack of bio-medical engineers.  

About the NEST360 program
Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) is a global consortium committed to reducing newborn deaths by 50% in hospitals, currently conducted in Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, and Nigeria. The program, which in Tanzania is being implemented by Ifakara Health Institute and a bunch of other partners, is an evidence-based model for sustainable health system change to close the gaps in technology, markets, and human resources for the implementation of quality hospital-based newborn care on a national scale.