Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

The Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is dedicated to improving health through education, training, research, and health services for attainment of equitable socioeconomic development.

From 2007 to 2011, the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) collaborated in the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The PHMRC was part of the Gates Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative #13 to develop technologies that permit quantitative assessment of population health status.

The PHMRC research site at Dar es Salaam was organized by MUHAS to collect verbal autopsy data from individuals identified as family members of deceased patients through regional hospital records. The validated verbal autopsy data was used in conjunction with data from the other PHMRC research sites to streamline the verbal autopsy survey instrument and develop new methods for analysis.

In addition to these activities, the MUHAS site collected biological specimens from hospital patients with HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and diabetes. These specimens are being compared to samples from control patients by the Broad Institute to search for biomarker patterns that would be valuable in diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of disease.

Individual collaborators:

• Zul Premji
• Mwanaidi Said