Dar needs local interventions to tackle maternal mortality

By ANTHONY TAMBWE

TANZANIA should use its own experience in tackling neonatal mortality instead of relying on foreign methods. This was said on Wednesday in Dar es Salaam by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Dr Mpoki Ulisubisya, during a workshop on strengthening maternal and new born care.

Dr Ulisubisya said that maternal and new born deaths are still a major challenge in Tanzania, saying that although figures indicate that there is decrease in the death rate, the numbers are still worrisome.
The workshop which was organised by the Ifakara Health Institute aimed at disseminating findings from Tanzania health experts, who visited China to learn from health systems strengthening maternal and new born health in China, with the aim of accelerating progress to save lives in Africa.
“It is true that China has a pleasant history in the health sector and this is because they looked for solutions within themselves,” said Dr Ulisubisya. He added that although it is advisable to learn from the Chinese experience, Tanzania should look for local intervention to solve her health challenges, giving an example of Uturo Village in Mbarali District in Mbeya Region, where for more than 18 years they have not experienced new born deaths.
Dr Ulisubisya challenged scientists in the country to use science and give national directions on how to reduce maternal and new born deaths. “Globally, 289,000 women die each year due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth; likewise, 2.9 million babies do not survive in the first month of life.
Sub-Saharan Africa with only 12 per cent of the world’s population carries the greatest burden of deaths,” he said. Representing the Ifakara Health Institute Director, Dr Fredros Okumu said that twenty years ago, parts of rural China experienced levels of maternal and neonatal mortality that are similar to those seen in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He said that today, the neonatal mortality rate in rural China is 9 per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality is 26 per 100,000 live births, saying that the reasons for China’s success on the matter are multiple. Dr Okumu said that Ifakara Health Institute is collaborating with Sichuan University of China and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom to share findings of the project. The workshops in China were attended by a team of policy makers from