Engaruka Healthy Community Organization
Dr. Msuya began with his lifelong dream of providing quality maternal/child healthcare to rural areas of his home country. Partnering with Dr. Costello, he formed an NGO, the Engaruka Healthy Community Organization, named for the first land we acquired. EHCO has approval to build health centers throughout rural Tanzania. Oreteti (Oh re TET), in the village of Engaruka, is our first!
What We've Achieved Together
Outpatient Clinic
Our Outpatient Department (OPD) is now open! This marks a major milestone in bringing healthcare to the people of Engaruka and surrounding areas. Families in this remote area now have access to quality and reliable primary healthcare without the long, expensive journeys to distant hospitals.
Until the maternity ward is open, urgent obstetric and newborn care are being done in the OPD when possible. There are also beds for overnight observation of sicker patients.
Lab
Our Laboratory is providing state-of-the-art service for reliable diagnosis close to home. From acute infection such as malaria, to maternal and infant screening, to chronic disease diagnosis and monitoring, high-quality lab tests are available in Engaruka.
Why It Matters
Maternity
“My first wife labored for three weeks. We used a motorcycle to reach the hospital, but it was too late and we lost her and the baby. My second wife also experienced complications. We lost the baby, but she survived. If there were a hospital nearby, I wouldn’t have lost them.”
— John
Surgery
“I almost drowned with a patient while rushing her to get emergency services in Karatu (35 miles away). We were forced to wait for more than 12 hours for rescue to get to us. The water had already entered the vehicle. It was only by God’s grace that we survived but my leg got injured by the rocks in the river.”
— Rosy
Wards
"I had to leave my four children under the age of seven at home for nine long months while I sought specialized care for my youngest. All that time, I lived far from home in a hospital so my child could receive the treatment he needed.”
— Maria
What Next
Maternity Ward
For generations, mothers in Engaruka and surrounding areas have been forced to travel long, unbearable distances to access pregnancy and infant care. Too often, these journeys come too late, sometimes ending in tragedy for the mother, the baby or both.
The maternity ward at Oreteti Health Center will be life-saving, providing safe deliveries, skilled birth attendants and timely interventions for high-risk pregnancies. The unit will include 2 delivery rooms and an operating room. It will also have a prenatal clinic and a nursery/neonatal ICU. The building is nearly complete, requiring only interior finishing and equipment. With your support, we can fulfill Dr. Msuya’s lifelong dream of providing quality prenatal, birth, and postnatal care, ultimately impacting the maternal and under-5 mortality rates in the area that we serve.
Operating Theatre
Today, families in Engaruka and surrounding areas face heartbreaking delays when surgery is needed. Whether it’s a child with appendicitis or an accident victim, patients must travel long distances to reach a facility with an operating theater. For many, that journey has led to loss of limbs. Sometimes, lives are lost along the way.
The Operating Room at Oreteti Health Center will change this reality. It will enable life-saving surgeries, emergency interventions and routine operations to be carried out right here in the community. Like the maternity ward building, the operating theatre is 70% complete. With your support, we can equip and open it, ensuring that urgent surgical care is never out of reach.