VICE-PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has reiterated government’s commitment to increase the budget for maternal health and clinical care in phases in a move aimed to reduce women and children deaths in the country.
Addressing delegates and invited guests
at the launch of the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan by the White Ribbon
Alliance For Safe Motherhood in Tanzania (WRATZ), Samia said government
cannot provide an increase of 100 per cent but would fulfill its
commitment in each financial year.
“The government cannot increase the
budget by 100 per cent for maternal and children healthcare in the next
financial year. We’ll do that in each financial year and after five
years, the situation will have improved,” she said.
She noted that the government recognises
challenges facing pregnant women and the newborn and is implementing
plans and strategies to address the problem, including ensuring that
every village has a dispensary; every ward has a health centre, to
ensure health services brought reach many people.
“The objective is to provide opportunity
for every pregnant woman in the country to give birth at a health
centre that has all the required service -- including emergency
surgeries, so she can give birth safely,” she explained.
She added that a strategic plan to
reduce deaths of pregnant women when giving birth, the newborn and
children under five targets at ensuring at least 50 per cent of all
health centres in the country provide proper health services.
“I have been told that some regions have
done a tremendous job on this, such as Rukwa. If it was possible for
Rukwa to achieve this, other regions can as well do that. All district
hospitals must provide all the required health services for women giving
birth by 100 percent. I want to see this in all the budgets of district
councils countrywide for the 2016/17 financial year,” she directed.
She added: “I believe if all councils in
the country adhere to this plan, and be accountable, maternal and child
deaths would be reduced significantly.”
Samia commended WRATZ theme ‘Zero
tolerance to maternal death, be accountable’, saying it is timely and
calls for everyone to work towards contributing to government and other
stakeholders’ efforts to control women deaths during delivery. WRAT
national coordinator Rose Mlay appealed to the government to increase
the budget for maternal and children health care by 100 percent.
She noted that this will ensure all
required health services and equipment in health centres are available.
She said that after five years when the Tanzania Demographic and Health
Survey (TDHS) would be conducted, the study should find zero maternal
and children deaths.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of
Health Community Development, Gender, Elders and Children, the
Government Chief Medical Officer, Prof Mohamed Bakari, said 24 women die
every day while giving birth and 30 others are left with different
forms of disability
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