The challenge
In 2000, Tanzania faced a maternal mortality rate of over 900 deaths per 100,000 births and an infant mortality rate of 85 per 1000 births. This challenging reality sparked action from the Tanzanian government who have engaged with public and private partners to implement systemic change to the health system, including increased Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care facilities, stronger referral networks, capacity building and improved health worker training. It is these factors that have helped to drive down numbers – and Tanzania is now heralded as an example to other African countries of how systemic change is possible. Despite this, disparities still exist in Tanzania which means not all women and babies have the chance at a safe birth.
How we help
For over 15 years, we and our partners have worked to strengthen maternal and newborn care in Tanzania, the birthplace of the proven Safer Births Bundle of Care. This program—shown to reduce newborn deaths by 40% and maternal deaths by 75%—is now implemented in more than 150 health facilities and is scaling nationally.
During this time, we have also helped establish simulation-based training across pre‑service and in‑service institutions, advocating for its adoption at government level. This approach is now increasingly integrated into Tanzania’s health system.
More recently, we have partnered to embed the Basic Emergency Care program, which uses similar methods to improve outcomes for time‑critical emergency conditions.
A beacon of hope
Through our collaborations with partners, our work has reached over 5000 Tanzanian healthcare workers, in 5 regions, helping to save thousands of lives. Our Tanzanian team have been hand in hand with those in government and health facilities as the country has dramatically improved the outcomes for women and newborns. Now, other African countries are looking to Tanzania and particularly to the Safer Births Bundle of Care program, to guide them as they too try to grapple with the devastating reality of high maternal and newborn deaths.
