Help us extend essential care across Tanzania

Dear Friends,

Just one week ago, you helped us raise over $5,000 with matching funds on GlobalGiving’s Bonus Day. That amount means 106 nurses in Tanzania will be trained and equipped to respond to emergencies with confidence and clinical expertise.

A skilled provider at the time of birth means a pregnant woman in Tanzania has a better opportunity to experience the joy of taking her healthy baby home. It means we can identify disabilities at birth, and refer a child born with an impairment, like cleft lip or clubfoot, for early treatment.

Together with the rest of the CCBRT team, I thank you for your generosity and support that has allowed us to do the work we do. It is gratifying to see our work over the last six years bear fruit and contribute to a significant improvement in the competency and confidence of the nurses trained. The decline in the number of maternal deaths in the region is encouraging and motivates us to persist in our efforts.

Every day, I see your impact with my own eyes, but what is unseen is the hope that invigorates the healthcare workers on the ground to know that people so far away care about them and the women and children they serve.

Meet my colleague Dorcas

Dorcas is our Senior Midwife Trainer for the team that will train those 106 nurses.

“I train medical teams in all 23 of our partner facilities,” she says. “I work to empower the maternal health teams with the mentoring, training and resources they need to save more lives.”

“One of these facilities serves 70,000 people every year. In 2011, my team performed an assessment to identify the facility’s quality of care. It scored 2% (perfection is a score of 100%¹). While staff were dedicated to helping mothers and babies, they did not have the equipment, tools, or skills to provide high-quality care to their patients.”

“Over the last six years we have worked closely with staff to collect data, find the gaps in equipment and skills, and identify the key challenges. We have tailored our training to address the root cause of the problem and teach the intervention needed to solve it.”

“In November 2015, this facility’s quality of care had improved to 87%. I was so proud. As the skills and confidence of service providers increased, so did the number of babies delivered safely to their families. In 2011, the facility delivered 406 babies. In 2015, the staff assisted with 1,386 deliveries, with zero maternal deaths.”

Friends, this is your generosity in action.

I’m so thankful to be on this journey with you. On behalf of Dorcas and my team here in Tanzania, thank you for making this life saving work possible.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brenda D’Mello. OB/GYN

1. Measured by Standards-Based Management and Recognition (SBMR) assessments, developed by Jhpiego, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University.