This paper provides new evidence on the pattern of local and imported
supplies to different health sectors and via different supply chains in Tanzania. It shows that around 16% of the medicines found on shelves from our tracer sample had been manufactured in Tanzania; about 15% came from Kenya; and nearly 70% were from outside East Africa, mainly India. Medical supplies traced from Tanzania were mainly basic commodities. All medical equipment, more complex supplies such as syringes and test kits, and other basics such as bandages, were imported. In general, the relatively low technical level of manufacturing in Tanzania was felt by health sector
stakeholders to be constraining local supplies to the health sector.