Why gender matters to young child survival and development

In Tanzania’s rural Rorya region, approximately 40% of women aren’t in the care of medical staff at hospitals or clinics when they deliver their babies. Instead they give birth at home, sometimes with a traditional birth attendant.

The region has the one of the lowest facility birth rates in the country. As a result, women die unnecessarily every year from treatable complications such as bleeding after delivery.

Tanzania’s government would like more than 80% of births to be overseen by skilled health care providers. Evidence shows that delivering in a health facility with a skilled birth attendant with access to medications, supplies and surgery as needed reduces deaths of both mothers and their infants.

Tanzania has limited resources for rural districts. It has very few skilled birth attendants and a shortage of medical supplies.

We did a study to understand what was preventing women from getting health care during pregnancy and childbirth. Our research was conducted in a way that allowed participants to discuss both the problem and solutions that are most meaningful to them.

By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja.

A stakeholders meeting on how to move maternal new-born and child health evidence into policy in West Africa is under way in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Organized by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) and IDRC of Canda, the three-day event, under the theme: “Nigeria Maternal Newborn and Child Health Research Days,” was formally declared open by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health, Dr, Osagie Ehanire.

The aim is to enhance the reduction of maternal and child mortality rate, through the development of more efficient, equitable and sustainable policies, strategies, implementation plans, monitoring and evaluation frameworks and better functioning systems, according to WAHO and FMOH officials.

The first two days which witnessed the opening session, technical sessions, group discussions and panel sessions, attracted about 90 participants made up of Key stakeholders in Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) like policy makers, researchers, CSOs and NGOs.  Director-General of WAHO, Prof Stanley Okolo, Director of Family Health department FMOH Dr. Adebimpe Adebiyi, former governor of Ondo State His Excellency, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and the senior specialist representative of IDRC from Canada Dr Nafi Diop were also in attendance.

Tanzania’s commitment to preventing maternal and newborn deaths has earned new momentum since 2016 in its adoption of a series of policies that recognize that a healthy and informed population, where fewer women are dying while giving life, is the bedrock of development. The country has made appreciable strides in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing under-5 mortality by two-thirds, yet worryingly, trends are reversing with respect to its maternal mortality rate (MMR). According to the Demographic Health Survey 2015-2016 report, there has been a more than 20% increase in the rate of women dying while giving life over the last eight years, from 432/100,000 live births in 2012 to 556/100,000 live births in 2015.Tanzania is also one of the most challenging places in sub-Saharan Africa to be a newborn, ranking among the 10 countries responsible for more than 60% of newborn deaths.

Background

The Safe Motherhood Research Project studies the implementation and scale-up of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) initiatives in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. This qualitative rapid assessment study was undertaken to explore community perceptions and experiences related to health, health inequality and other MNCH themes.