23rd March, 2010
First Lady of the United Republic of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete officially launched a four year project that will work to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality in Mtwara and Tandahimba districts during the White Ribbon Day Celebrations held on March 15, at Mashujaa Grounds in Mtwara, southern Tanzania. (View an image slideshow of the launch)
The project, Putting African Mothers and Children First is a regional project running in Kenya, Tanzania and Southern Sudan and is funded by the European Union with co funding from AMREF in the Netherlands.
The launch ceremony also saw the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between AMREF and the Mtwara and Tandahimba District Councils in regards to the implementation of the project in the respective districts. The Mtwara MOU was by signed and handed over to the Mtwara District Executive Director Mr Mohamed Ngwalima and witnessed by Mtwara District Medical Officer Dr Margaret Mwakyusa, while the Tandahimba MOU was signed by the Tandahimba District Executive Director Abdalah Njovu and witnessed by District Medical Officer Dr Idd Msonde.
The project will work with the District administration, the District Medical Officer’s office and the Reproductive Child Health Units in Mtwara and Tandahimba in planning, budgeting, management and evaluation of maternal, newborn and child health activities.
AMREF in Tanzania’s Country Director Ms Blanche Pitt signed the MOUs on behalf of AMREF and was witnessed by AMREF Programme Manager Dr Ayoub Magimba.
The White Ribbon Day Celebrations were organised by the White Ribbon Alliance in Tanzania (WRA-TZ), a member of the international White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood that aims to become a grassroots movement for safe motherhood that inspires and saves women’s lives in Tanzania. The event brought together and show cased activities of likeminded organisations working in the area of maternal health in Tanzania including AMREF, CARE, PSI, Women’s Dignity and Jhpiego among others. The theme for this year’s White Ribbon Day Celebrations was Invest in Maternal and Newborn Health for Reduced Poverty and Enhanced Economic Growth.
During her speech at the White Ribbon Day Celebrations, the First Lady championed the need to invest in maternal and newborn child health through targeted budget lines in the national budget. The budget lines for quality service delivery proposed were deployment of skilled health workers to health facilities especially in remote regions, provision of essential medical equipment and supplies, infrastructure improvement for delivery, post natal and laboratory services, the establishment of neonatal units and tailor-made training for appropriate staff working in maternal and child health.
The newly launched AMREF project will work in line with the government’s Primary Health Sector Development Plan (PHSDP) towards improving the delivery of health services by empowering communities to actively participate in health service access and provision by building the capacity of community health workers to increase community awareness around essential health interventions (family planning, birth preparedness, early identification of complications, referrals, ante-natal/post-natal support and management of childhood illnesses) through health communication and education activities, advocacy, community mobilisation, mediation and lobbying. This will give a significant boost to the WRA-TZ led initiative in Mtwara and Tandahimba districts and on to a national level.
Tanzania loses about 8,000 women every year to maternal health complications, a significant loss within the country’s productive labour force. Over 88% of the total population of Mtwara rural district depend on agriculture; half of the agriculture labour force is made up of women.
