The unit is set to conduct relevant basic research in order to understand disease determinants, the potential and mechanism of new targets for intervention and diagnostics purposes.  Activities in this unit include

• Descriptive studies in mosquitoes ecology
• Entomopathogenic fungi for malaria control
• Novel odorant formulations for surveillance and control of mosquitoes
• Importance of blood host availability and vector behaviour as a determinant of malaria transmission
• Novel spatial repellents as replacements for DDT
• Molecular markers of antimalarial drug resistance and surveillance of resistance to recommended antimalarials in Tanzania.
• Micro arrays for malaria and HIV drug resistance (no funding committed yet)

Other existing studies look at

• Causes of fever in children living in urban Dar es Salaam and rural Ifakara
• Diarrheal Disease in Infants and Young Children in Developing Countries
• Rabies Surveillance Systems in Southern Tanzania
• CCT (Lab component)
• Malaria culture and genotyping
• Malaria parasite characterization and sample bank

IHI has become a very important actor in the health sector in Tanzania, focusing on improvement of health delivery systems and generation of evidence for health planning and management. Researchers at the IHI have made significant contributions to the implementation of the health sector reform. IHI is also known for its work in implementation studies including treated mosquito nets (ITN) scaling up which resulted in  27 % improvement on child survival and 60% reduction of malaria parasitemia and anaemia; Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI)  which showed 13% reduction in under 5 children mortality; Intermittent Preventive Treatment in infants (IPTi)  which showed 59% reduction of clinical malaria episode and anaemia and the monitoring of the implementation of the Tanzania Voucher scheme.

Current strategic plan aims at consolidating the achievements of the past and further diversifying areas of competency thus make the IHI a unique place for generating innovative solutions to the health problems of Tanzania and beyond.

Over the years, the Institute has made and maintained very good working relations with the MoHSW and other stakeholders across the globe making it easier to disseminate the outputs of the IHI. 

The research infrastructure and skill set that is available at IHI form a very useful resource for training especially at post graduate level in health and social sciences. IHI is gone into agreement with various universities both local (Sokoine, Dar Es Salaam and Muhimbili). and international (Swiss Tropical Institute and Witwatersrand) to support post graduate training of students registered in these Universities. Further agreements with other Universities are being prepared and new opportunities to facilitate the training including virtual class room and distance learning are in development. The IHI is also participating two proposals to establish networks of Universities that offer improved training on health issues in Africa. These opportunities allow the IHI to become an important stakeholder in higher education activity. Lastly, the IHI is sub recipients of funds from bilateral agreement between the government of Switzerland and Tanzania. The agreement was signed by Hon. Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, Swiss State Secretary of the Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) and Hon. Professor Peter Msolla, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Tanzania. These resources will allow the training of both Tanzanian and Swiss students and the establishment of training modules at IHI that are accredited in Europe (e.g. Tropical  Education Europe)

The Resource Centre (RC), is a unit works under the Ifakara Health Institute.  RC generates and disseminates evidence and information in order to inform policy choices and stimulate national debate.  In addition, products from the RC seek also to track policy performance and promote accountability as well as increase district voice. 

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) reformed mandate focuses on devising policies, setting standards and monitoring performance.  However, the devolution of health service planning, management and delivery to the councils means that MoHSW no longer has executive control over services at the council level.  As a result, there remains a significant gulf between the knowledge, experiences and views of the districts on the design, monitoring and refinement of policies on one hand; and the actions of central government on the other. Yet there is a dearth of information available in regards to both policy development and performance monitoring in terms of service outputs and health impact.

At the national level, deficiencies in the routine data system for health (HMIS) mean that is it not possible to obtain timely, accurate or complete information on progress against most of the health indicators in the Mkukuta poverty monitoring framework.  A similar handicap affects the monitoring of policy implementation at district level and its impact on service delivery.  Even at the most basic level, information for planning and management is sorely lacking.  Besides, data on health facilities, budgets & expenditure, and personnel suffer from inaccuracies or gaps to varying degrees. 
With the move towards direct budget support or basket funding, donors also become more distanced from service delivery and policy implementation.  This means in the absence of field trips and commissioned studies, there is a real risk that donors lose their knowledge base, become less well informed about policy implementation and less able to add value in policy dialogue.

The accountability of the health system to domestic stakeholders is also weak.  For instance, although the parliamentary social services committee can access information, it is often at a level of detail and complexity that is difficult to interpret. The same may be said for health in the public media where commentary is often superficial and ill-informed.

The Resource Centre, also works to uncover “policy blind spots”: areas of health policy that are neglected, or where debate has been stifled.  This is for instance nutrition, which continues to receive meager attention despite the official lead role of the health sector in achieving the Mkukuta nutrition goals.