In need of health care and medicines, many rural Tanzanians have to trek long distances to their nearest public health facility. Once there, they often find the medicines they need are out of stock, generally having to turn to private drug outlets, or duka la dawa baridi, to buy their prescribed medicines—and often paying more money for drugs of uncertain quality. This is the plight of many in Tanzania, where life expectancy had fallen to 44 years in 2001, from 50 years in 1990 (World Bank 2003), and infant mortality is 107 deaths per 1,000 and rising.
