Is there a threshold level of maternal education sufficient to reduce child undernutrition? Evidence from Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe
Background: Maternal education is strongly associated with young child nutrition outcomes. However, the threshold of the level of maternal education that reduces the level of undernutrition in children is not well established. This paper investigates the level of threshold of maternal education that influences child nutrition outcomes using Demographic and Health Survey data from Malawi […]
Challenges of Anesthesia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Access to Safe Obstetric Anesthesia in East Africa
BACKGROUND: The United Nations 2015 Millennium Development Goals targeted a 75% reduction in maternal mortality. However, in spite of this goal, the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births remains unacceptably high across Sub-Saharan Africa. Because many of these deaths could likely be averted with access to safe surgery, including cesarean delivery, we set […]
Integrating reproductive and child health and HIV services in Tanzania: Implication to policy, systems and services
In Tanzania, reproductive health and HIV services are coordinated by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in two separate units namely Reproductive and Child Health Section and the National AIDS Control Programme. The importance of integrating the two services that are vertically run is expected to improve access to and uptake of key essential […]
Health & Demographic Surveillance System Profile: The Ifakara Rural and Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Ifakara HDSS)
The Ifakara Rural HDSS (125 000 people) was set up in 1996 for a trial of the effectiveness of social marketing of bed nets on morbidity and mortality of children aged under 5 years, whereas the Ifakara Urban HDSS (45 000 people) since 2007 has provided demographic indicators for a typical small urban centre setting. […]
How can corporate taxes contribute to sub-Saharan Africa’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? A case study of Vodafone
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency threaten progress in reaching many of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets by 2030. The under-5 mortality and maternal mortality rates are well below the targets, and if we progress at the current pace, there is a high risk of not meeting the 2030 goals. Furthermore, the initial […]
Association between wash-related behaviors and knowledge with childhood diarrhea in Tanzania
Background: Diarrhea remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children in Tanzania. The purpose of this study was to explore associations between diarrheal disease and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) related behaviors and determine care-seeking predictors for diarrheal disease. Methods: Data from 9996 female primary caregivers were collected as part of a larger […]
Maternal near miss and mortality in a rural referral hospital in northern Tanzania: A cross-sectional study
Background: Maternal morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa remains high despite global efforts to reduce it. In order to lower maternal morbidity and mortality in the immediate term, reduction of delay in the provision of quality obstetric care is of prime importance. The aim of this study is to assess the occurrence of severe maternal […]
Maternal death reviews at Bugando hospital north-western Tanzania: A 2008-2012 retrospective analysis
Background: Unacceptably high levels of maternal deaths still occur in many sub-Saharan countries and the health systems may not favour effective use of lessons from maternal death reviews to improve maternal survival. We report results from the analysis of data from maternal death reviews at Bugando Medical Centre north-western Tanzania in the period 2008-2012 and […]
Survival of neonates in rural Southern Tanzania: Does place of delivery or continuum of care matter?
Background: The concept of continuum of care has recently been highlighted as a core principle of maternal, newborn and child health initiatives, and as a means to save lives. However, evidence has consistently revealed that access to care during and post delivery (intra and postpartum) remains a challenge in the continuum of care framework. In […]
Identifying implementation bottlenecks for maternal and newborn health interventions in rural districts of the United Republic of Tanzania
Objective To estimate effective coverage of maternal and newborn health interventions and to identify bottlenecks in their implementation in rural districts of the United Republic of Tanzania. Methods Cross-sectional data from households and health facilities in Tandahimba and Newala districts were used in the analysis. We adapted Tanahashi’s model to estimate intervention coverage in conditional […]
