Tanzanian Countdown to 2015 launched – will this count for women and children?

15 May 2014

President JM Kikwete of Tanzania, co-chair for the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health (COIA), recently launched the Tanzanian “Countdown to 2015” and “A Promised Renewed” in relation to maternal, newborn and child survival in Tanzania at a high level event held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Following this event, President Kikwete joined his fellow co-chair of COIA, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, at a high-level summit on maternal, newborn, and child health, which was held in Toronto (28 – 30 May 2014). Both events provided a platform to highlight Tanzania’s priorities for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) for the next six years, and set the scene to ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths by 2035. The Tanzanian Countdown Country Case Study formed a critical piece of evidence that informed these priorities.

15 May 2014

Tanzania Policy Brief thumbnailPresident JM Kikwete of Tanzania, co-chair for the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health (COIA), recently launched the Tanzanian “Countdown to 2015” and “A Promised Renewed” in relation to maternal, newborn and child survival in Tanzania at a high level event held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Following this event, President Kikwete joined his fellow co-chair of COIA, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, at a high-level summit on maternal, newborn, and child health, which was held in Toronto (28 – 30 May 2014). Both events provided a platform to highlight Tanzania’s priorities for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) for the next six years, and set the scene to ending preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths by 2035. The Tanzanian Countdown Country Case Study formed a critical piece of evidence that informed these priorities.

Tanzania’s Countdown Country Case Study is funded by the Canadian government and facilitated by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, World Health Organisation Tanzania, Evidence for Action Tanzania, and other partners. The study reviewed the data to better understand where there has and has not been progress, and to identify who is being left behind for RMNCH. A policy brief, released in English and Swahili, outlines some of the study’s findings.

Tanzania has made strong progress on child survival, and has already achieved its target for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 (to reduce by two-thirds the under-5 mortality rate). However, similar gains for maternal and newborn survival have not been seen. Tanzania is off target to reach MDG 5a (to reduce by three-quarters the maternal mortality ratio) and MDG 5b (to achieve universal access to reproductive health).

The following three RMNCH priorities were highlighted in the case study and are reflected in the Sharpened One Plan, an evidence-based policy that guides action for RMNCH in Tanzania to the end of 2015 and beyond:

  1. Address the unmet need for family planning: Tanzania has increased the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from 7% in 1991 to 27% in 2010, with the increase between 2005 and 2010 largely attributable to an increase among rural women. However, the unmet need for family planning – the proportion of all women whose family planning needs are not satisfied – has remained constant. Aligned with its commitment to Family Planning 2020, Tanzania must address the unmet need for family planning, with a particular focus on women from the Western and Lakes Zones who are being left behind.
  2. Address the gaps for coverage and quality of care at birth: Tanzania has made limited progress in the proportion of births that take place in a health facility and in the quality of facility-based care at and around birth, the time when most preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths and stillbirths occur. Aligned with the recent Lancet Every Newborn series and the Every Newborn Action Plan, Tanzania must address the gaps in coverage and quality of care at birth, with a particular focus on poor, rural Tanzanian women and newborns.
  3. Continue the progress on child health: While maintaining efforts to sustain the progress Tanzania has made in preventive child health services, more energy needs to be directed to addressing the regional gaps in access to curative health services for sick children and newborns, and to addressing stunting.

Having a good plan in place is only the first step in saving lives. Evidence must lead to action, and the Sharpened One Plan must now be implemented, especially among the poorest Tanzanians. Accountability is an essential tool for its implementation, requiring that the government plays its part in implementing the plan and that civil society — and the media — also keep track and hold the government, and global leaders, accountable for fulfilling their commitments. The Tanzanian RMNCH Scorecard, developed to track progress and foster accountability at all levels, was also launched at the event in Dar es Salaam.

President Kikwete personally handed copies of the policy brief, together with the Sharpened One Plan, to regional medical officers, symbolically holding each of them accountable for fulfilling these plans and achieving their goals.

Key resources related to Tanzania’s RMNCH event included the following: