Tanzania finally reaps fruits of improved maternal care
Improved access to vaccination and better child and maternal care have pushed Tanzania’s maternal and child mortality rates downwards by over 20 per cent in the last five years. This is according to a report launched yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
Conducted by national Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the survey establishes that the current maternal mortality rate stands at 454 deaths, down from 578 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Likewise, the childhood mortality rate for children under one year had gone down by 25 per cent while the rate for children under five years has also declined by 27 per cent in the same period. Currently, 51 children out of 1,000 live births die before their first birthday, the report says noting however that the number has decreased from 68 deaths. The number of deaths to children aged less than five years decreased from 112 to 81 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Currently, all Tanzanian women received some antenatal care from skilled provider, most commonly from nurse or midwives, the report notes.
Also, according to the survey, 75 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months had received all recommended vaccines. Only two per cent did not receive any of the recommended vaccines.
Results
Officiating the launch of the report, the minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Hajji Mponda said the results has brought hope for the country to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG) number four and five on health reducing maternal and child mortality rate. The Goals direct countries to reduce child mortality rate by 2/3 and maternal mortality ratio by 3/4 between by 2015.
(www.africareview.com , 27/05/2011)