A new hospital, exclusively for maternal care for Dar es Salaam is the centre of a five year plan by the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) to fight the high mortality rate related to pregnancy.

The construction of Baobab Maternity hospital will begin early next year and will be located at the current disability hospital in Msasani area.

The government will provide land and pay grants in employee salaries for the project to take off.

The CCBRT deputy chief executive officer Ms Haika Mawalla made the remarks on Wednesday while his Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent paid a short visit at the rehabilitation centre. He was accompanied by the British high Commissioner Ms Diane Corner.

The prince toured the hospital and witnessed how patients were being treated.

Ms Haika said the maternal hospital would strive to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce the under- fives mortality by two-thirds and the mortality ratio by three quarters by 2015.

A survey report issued indicates that the annual number of maternal deaths is 13,000, for the under fives and 45,000 for newborns.

The pressure on the few maternity facilities in Dar es Salaam is set to mount as its population is expected to reach nearly 4 million by 2014. The city currently has an estimated 3.5 million people.

It is estimated that over he next five year, thee will be 5000 women in the city alone requiring comprehensive maternal care to save their lives and that of their children.

Tanzania's maternal mortality rate has remained high and virtually unchanged over the last ten years due to the unmet need for reproductive health services and access to life saving Emergency Obstetric Care (EmOC). Nearly 600 women in every 100,000 live births die in the country from complications.

Ms Haika called for development partners to join in the pivotal effort to reduce maternal and infant mortality; she said the total budget for the implementation of the five-year strategy amounts to 16.7 million euro.