The Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and the National Essential Medicine List for Tanzania
(NEMLIT) was first published in 1991. The fourth edition includes new sections on symptoms
and syndrome. The STGs have been updated and are consistent with current national guidelines
for diagnosis and management of common diseases. The guidelines also reflect changes in the
management of various diseases including asthma and hypertension following
recommendations from WHO and experts from international medical associations and agencies.
There have been improvements in the format of treatment regimens, showing more clearly the
classification of medicines by level of health care within the treatment guidelines, and not just
in the NEMLIT.
The STG and NEMLIT aims at providing health practitioners with standardized guidance in
making decisions about appropriate health care for specific conditions found in Tanzania. By
using STGs, prescribing practices can be rationalized and patient outcomes can be improved
while making optimum use of the limited resources for medicines. The NEMLIT attached to the
STG retains its purpose of identifying medicines that are considered essential for the treatment
of common disease conditions in Tanzania. The medicine list is in line with the World Health
Organization (WHO) recommendations under Tanzania conditions. It follows the principles and
concepts of essential medicines so as to simplify the management of medicines supply and
support a streamlined logistics system.
This set of tools is meant to be a guide for quick reference and its recommendations are valid
for most presentations of the conditions covered. Nevertheless, clinical judgment and
experience will always prevail for adjustment of treatment in individual cases when necessary.
This new edition of STGs provides Medicines and Therapeutics Committees (MTCs) at our health
institutions an opportunity to strengthen their role in improving therapeutics and management
of medicines in practice. MTCs are requested to promote the concepts of evidence based
selection of medicines and cost-effective treatment protocols and facilitate STGs to be applied in
their specific practice settings, translating and incorporating into local guidelines, formularies
and in-service training programmes.
The Ministry’s policy is that all public and private health workers in Tanzania will promote and
adhere to these Standard Treatment Guidelines, and that prescribing, purchasing, labeling and
dispensing of medicines should be by generic names as much as possible, and consistent with
the level classification in the STGs and NEMLIT.
It is my hope that all health workers in Tanzania will find this document a useful tool in
management of patients’ illinesses.