Physical Health Tanzania, United Republic of Project #8594

Make Motherhood Safe for Tanzanian Women

by Kupona Foundation

Make Motherhood Safe for Tanzanian Women

Project Report | May 17, 2019
Celebrating Success: Creating A Life-Saving Model for All of Tanzania

By Abbey Kocan | Executive Director, Kupona Foundation

Dear Friends,

With your support, our local partner CCBRT's Maternal Health Capacity Building (MHCB) team has worked hard to reduce the occurrence of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in Dar es Salaam. Their interventions have quite literally saved lives; however, PPH remains the leading cause of maternal deaths in Tanzania.

We want to make every birth a safe birth. To do that, we’ve moved beyond addressing “low hanging fruit.” Instead, we’re looking at old problems with new eyes.

Recently, working with frontline health workers, MHCB’s typical bottom-up approach identified a new approach to managing PPH: ensuring the adequate availability of blood at health facilities.

Lack of blood contributed to almost 50% of maternal deaths in Dar es Salaam in 2018. Years of blood shortages mean that some Tanzanian doctors have become overly frugal with their use of blood, leading to poor medical practices and contributing to unnecessary deaths, even before women go into labor. As MHCB Program Manager Dr. Brenda told me, “If you treat [maternal] anemia casually, you end up with a casualty.”

MHCB has worked closely with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and National Blood Transfusion Service to come up with a creative solution: establishing satellite blood banks to more effectively collect blood throughout the region and to more efficiently distribute blood among health facilities that critically need it.

As a result of the new satellite blood banks, Dar es Salaam now collects more blood than Tanzania’s other regions. A renewed focus on training for clinicians to reinforce best practices has led to improved use of blood, and fewer cases of obstetric hemorrhage and preventable maternal deaths.

Now the official government model for all of Dar es Salaam Region, the satellite blood banks will become a life-saving model for all regions in Tanzania – a testament to the importance of listening to and supporting frontline health workers to make motherhood safer in Tanzania. Thank you for helping us continue this life-saving work.

Warmly,

Abbey Kocan

Executive Director, Kupona Foundation

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May 13, 2019
"It doesn't have to be like that tomorrow"

By Dr. Brenda D'mello | OB/GYN, MHCB Project Manager

Dear Friends,

Each year in Tanzania, 11,000 women die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and 40,000 births result in a stillborn baby. We can save these lives. Our greatest resource in doing so? Front line health workers.

Studies of Tanzania’s over-congested, under-resourced health facilities have blamed “personnel motivation” and staff’s “low productivity” for many of the failures of the country’s health system. In contrast, our collaborative Maternal Health Capacity Building (MHCB) program focuses on encouraging, empowering and enabling front line health workers.

Dr. Timothy is one of our expert emergency obstetric care trainers and clinical coaches. He spends at least three days a quarter at each of our 22 partner facilities, working alongside health worker to address skill gaps through coaching, mentoring and engaging health workers to identify problems and implement solutions.

In the past five years, the generosity of donors like you has enabled MHCB to train more than 5,000 maternal and newborn health workers, empowering them with the skills and confidence they need to save lives. The result? A 40% reduction in maternal deaths and a 14% reduction in stillbirths in MHCB’s 22 partner facilities.

What’s more, health workers trained by MHCB have a heightened sense of ownership. As one manager put it: “If today, there were 10 maternal deaths, I know that it doesn’t have to be like that tomorrow. MHCB works hand-in-hand with us to identify problems and implement solutions.”

Your continued partnership has helped us save thousands of lives. As you celebrate mothers this month, I invite you to also celebrate the healthcare providers in your life and the healthcare providers in Tanzania, who are working tirelessly to create a better, safer tomorrow for mothers and newborns. A gift of $50 provides the resources necessary for four safe deliveries. A gift of $100 trains two maternal health workers to save lives at birth.

Happy Mother’s Day, and thank you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Brenda D’mello

OB/GYN, CCBRT MHCB Project Manager and Technical Advisor

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Mar 14, 2019
We have one more day!

By The Kupona Foundation Team | Kupona Foundation

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