Bloomberg Philanthropies and
New Partner Announce New Funding
for Life-Saving Maternal
Health Program, Bringing Total Commitment to $15.5 Million
H&B
Agerup Foundation Joins Effort
NEW YORK (October 2, 2012) – An innovative maternal health program in Tanzania
funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies is projected to impact at least 50,000
mothers and their children over the next three years, Mayor and philanthropist
Michael R. Bloomberg announced today.
More than 100 local
non-physician clinicians including assistant medical officers and nurse
midwives in Tanzania’s most isolated areas have been trained to perform
life-saving procedures including caesarean sections since the program began.
The number of maternal deaths from bleeding and other complications in Tanzania
have been reduced; in one district alone, maternal deaths declined by 32% in
less than 2 years due to the project.
To date, more than one thousand
babies have been delivered by c-section in villages where women previously had
to travel several hours to receive care – often when it was too late. Women in
Tanzania deliver an average of 5.5 children in their lifetime, meaning every mother’s
life saved not only impacts her and her newborn but also the well-being of her
other children.
Tanzania has the eighth highest
number of maternal deaths in the world; a woman dies from complications of
pregnancy and childbirth almost every hour in Tanzania.
“No one should have to die
giving birth,” said Michael R. Bloomberg. “Sadly, in some parts of the world,
too many women die due to complications in childbirth because of inaccessible
and inadequate care. We are implementing a pilot in Tanzania, a country with
one of the world’s highest rates of maternal deaths, where we have built a
unique program that we know is already saving lives by providing emergency
obstetric care in rural communities.”
“Reducing maternal deaths
requires innovative approaches to delivering care in the hardest to reach
places,” said Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. “I am
encouraged by this type of partnership which, as we see in Tanzania, promises
to improve the lives of women, their families and communities.”
“Through the efforts of
Bloomberg Philanthropies and their partners, we are making progress in reducing
maternal deaths in Tanzania which has been a high priority for my government,”
H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania, said.
“The
results-oriented approach of this program has provided life-saving procedures
to thousands of women, and we look forward to expanding this effort with the
additional support of the H&B Agerup Foundation to save lives and improve
the health of Tanzanians.”
“After traveling to Tanzania to
see firsthand the work, progress and results of this maternal health program,
we saw an opportunity to contribute to the continued development and
implementation of this program,” said Helen Agerup, chair of H&B Agerup
Foundation. “As an entrepreneur and medical professional, I was impressed by
how this program challenged conventional medical approaches to improve mothers’
and children’s health and to save lives in some of the most remote parts of
Tanzania.”
“With the contribution of
H&B Agerup Foundation and the cooperation of the Tanzanian government, we
can deepen this program’s impact in some of the most remote regions of the
country,” Bloomberg said. “Early results show a two-fold increase in the number
of health center-based deliveries, an important step towards reducing maternal
death. As we monitor the progress of this ground-breaking work, we think it has
the potential to become a model for other countries in Africa where maternal
deaths are unacceptably high.”
Facts About Bloomberg
Philanthropies Maternal Health Initiative
According to the United
Nations, almost 300,000 women die globally from pregnancy and childbirth every
year. For every woman that dies, another 20 suffer an injury, illness or
disability, often with life-long consequences.
99% of maternal deaths occur in
developing countries with over half of these in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania
has the fifth highest number of maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Access to comprehensive
emergency obstetric services can prevent most maternal deaths, yet women
continue to die because there are few facilities with skilled personnel and the
distances are long. The crux of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Maternal Health
Program is the decentralization of life-saving health care services to the
level of the village, where it is needed the most. The approach has two
components:
1) Upgrading Infrastructure
Almost every community in
Tanzania has access to a health care center that can provide basic health care
services. The Bloomberg Maternal Health Program has upgraded these health
centers by constructing operating rooms and other critical infrastructure
needed for comprehensive emergency obstetric care.
2) Training healthcare
workers
Most remote communities of
Tanzania do not have a medical doctor, and obstetricians are almost
non-existent in rural areas. Tanzania was an early adopter of a practical
solution known as "task-shifting" which allows non-physician
clinicians to provide health care services. Non-physician
clinicians
are much more likely to work in isolated communities than doctors. Recognizing
this, our program trains non-physician clinicians - called Assistant Medical
Officers (AMO) - to manage complicated deliveries, including caesarian
sections, and nurse midwives to administer anesthesia.
Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies
announced a new investment in the program through a partnership with
Geneva-based H&B Agerup Foundation over the next 3 years -- bringing the
total commitment to $15.5 million since late 2006. The program operates in
close consultation with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. It
is implemented by the World Lung Foundation and is evaluated by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in partnership with the CDC Foundation.
Tanzania: By The Numbers
The United Nations' Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) 5 calls for a 75% reduction in maternal mortality rates
by 2015. At the current rate of progress, Tanzania is not on track to reach MDG
5. Our program strives to accelerate progress and early results suggest we are
headed in the right direction. We are showing that women will use life-saving
medical treatments and facilities when they are easily accessible and provide
high-quality care.
So far:
1. Nine extremely remote heath
centers have been upgraded. Prior to the program, patients had to travel 3-4
hours to the nearest hospital. Now, emergency obstetric care is available in
the community.
2. More than 100 non-physician
clinicians have been trained in comprehensive emergency obstetric care or
anesthesia.
3. Health center utilization
for delivery care has increased substantially, from about 3,500 deliveries per
year in all 9 health centers prior to the program to about 9,000 in 2011 after
the intervention.
4. More than 1,000 c-sections
have been performed
5. The Ulanga district, one of
7 districts where the program is operating, saw a 32% decline in maternal
deaths after the program was implemented.
6. Conservative projections
show that at least 50,000 women and children will be impacted by our work.
NEW FUNDING WILL SAVE
MOTHERS AND CHILDREN’S LIVES IN TANZANIA
Commitments from Bloomberg
Philanthropies and H&B Agerup Foundation Expected to Impact At Least 50,000
Mothers and Children by 2016-
(October 3rd, 2012, Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania and New York, USA) –
World Lung Foundation (WLF) today welcomed an extension of funding for its
Maternal Health Initiative in Tanzania.
WLF has run the initiative with
financial support from Bloomberg Philanthropies since 2006, working closely
with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and with Tanzanian partners like
the Ifakara Health Institute, to implement a state-of-the-art maternal health
program in Tanzania. The aim of the initiative has been to reduce maternal and
neonatal mortality by improving women’s access to good-quality emergency
obstetric care, particularly in rural and isolated areas.
News of the extended funding
was announced yesterday, October 2nd, by Bloomberg Philanthropies in New York
City, in the presence of President of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Hon.
Jakaya M. Kikwete and Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. In
addition, H&B Agerup Foundation joins as a new co-founder of the
initiative, which will have received a total commitment of $15.5 million since
late 2006. Conservative projections estimate that World Lung Foundation’s work
in Tanzania will positively impact at least 50,000 mothers and their children
over the next three years.
Peter Baldini, Chief Executive
Officer, World Lung Foundation, commented: “Bloomberg Philanthropies enabled a
proof-of-concept initiative to prove itself. By investing in a comprehensive
model of medical personnel and infrastructure, they have shown that maternal
deaths can be greatly reduced. We also commend the H&B Agerup Foundation
for recognizing the value of a strong network of personnel and facilities,
which enables us to expand it, and prevent more needless deaths.
“Recently published data from
WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank estimate that Tanzania, which accounted
for 3% of global maternal deaths in 2010, reduced its Maternal Mortality Rate
by 47% between 1990 and 2010. We know from our work on the ground that even
more needless deaths could and should be prevented through the extension of our
initiative to other rural areas. Women should not risk their lives and those of
their unborn babies just to reach a hospital. We look forward to working with
the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to in taking further steps toward
safe motherhood and childhood in Tanzania."
World Lung Foundation pointed
to a number of accomplishments, across geographically strategic health centers
and hospitals in seven districts in the Kigoma, Morogoro and Pwani regions.
Since 2006:
·
Nine extremely
remote heath centers have been upgraded. Prior to the program, patients had to
travel 3-4 hours to the nearest hospital. Now, emergency obstetric care is
available in the community.
·
More than 100
non-physician clinicians have been trained in comprehensive emergency obstetric
care or anesthesia.
·
Health center
utilization for delivery care has increased substantially, from about 3,500
deliveries per year in all 9 health centers prior to the program to about 9,000
in 2011 after the intervention.
·
More than 1,000
c-sections have been performed
·
The Ulanga
district, one of 7 districts where the program is operating, saw a 32% decline
in maternal deaths after the program was implemented.
·
Conservative
projections show that at least 50,000 women and children will be impacted by
our work.
World Lung
Foundation was established in response to the global epidemic of lung disease,
which kills 10 million people each year. The organization also works on
maternal and infant mortality reduction initiatives. WLF improves global health
by improving local health capacity, by supporting operational research, by
developing public policy and by delivering public education. The organization’s
areas of emphasis are tobacco control, maternal and infant mortality
prevention, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, asthma, and child lung health. For more
information, please visit worldlungfoundation.org
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