Kilimanjaro — EFFORTS aimed at ending deaths of pregnant women, those who have delivered and child mortalities in Kilimanjaro region, recently got fresh impetus after maternal and newborn emergency transport system coordinated by m-mama organisation was launched in the area.
m-mama is a cost-effective emergency transport system aimed at significantly reducing maternal mortality in areas with limited or inefficient ambulance services.
Speaking during the launch in Moshi recently, the m-mama Country Director, Dolorosa Duncan said it was part of the countrywide service as advised by President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan, earlier this year.
"When launching the programme in April, Dr Samia proposed that it is spread as a national agenda... may I take this opportunity to inform you that the programme will go live nationwide by September, 2023", she said.
Commenting on the launch, Ms Duncan said the launch was meant to help in reducing maternal mortality in Kilimanjaro region, alongside other initiatives by the government within the region.
"The Government has been working with the Vodacom Tanzania Foundation to roll out m-mama, the maternal and newborn emergency transport system, which utilises government ambulances and private cars in the absence of ambulances in emergencies for pregnant women and newborns", she said, adding, the system has been proved to contribute in the reduction of maternal mortality by 27 percent in rural areas nationwide."
She added, "The reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality is a health priority outlined in Tanzanian Government's plans... by launching this programme here in Kilimanjaro region, it is part of the valuable imitatives as far as the health sector in the country is concerned.
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She said the initiative was an innovative collaboration between the private and public sector to save maternal and newborn lives in Tanzania since 2013, where she said m-mama uses mobile technology to connect women in Tanzania to emergency transport.
"Through m-mama, we use mobile technology to connect pregnant women with healthcare facilities, when they need it the most; the connection works to reduce rates of maternal mortality, identified as the number one health challenge by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals", she added.
Speaking during the occasion, the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (RC) Mr Nurdin Babu, commended m-mama for introducing the services in the region, saying it would address the challenge of maternal and infants' mortality within the region.
"The mortality rate reduction has been satisfactory in Kilimanjaro region; the number of deaths were 51 in 2020, 66 in 2021 and as we launch this programme today, this so far there have been reported 38 maternal mortalities in the region; this program will be very fruitful as far as efforts to the maternal mortality in Kilimanjaro region is concerned", he added.
Mr Babu further said the launch was vital in the region due to the real fact that there were only 30 ambulances in the region, where 13 of them are owned and run by government health facilities and the remaining 17 by private health institutions.
