unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/04/89)
TANZANIA: New Health Strategy Targets Women
Dar-es-Salaam, September 28, 1989 (AIA/IPS) -- A "safe
motherhood" initiative is being mounted to prop up a national
health system hard hit by austerity.
Statistics show rural women have been the last to benefit
from Tanzania's much praised health system. Their access has
diminished further during the past two years when the
government implemented a new economic regime inspired by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) which restricted public
spending and devalued the currency.
Pregnant women in the countryside are most at risk. Last year
between 3,000 and 4,000 died in hospitals and clinics where
records are kept. No one knows how many women died in their
homes where 40 percent of births take place.
Doctors say most deaths are caused by preventable
complications like anaemia, placenta abruption, sepsis,
eclampsia, and haemorrhage.
The new plan aims to reduce maternal mortality by 50 percent
in 10 years.
There are four components to the scheme:
* A public awareness campaign at grassroots level will alert
women to the services and facilities already available. Most
people live between five and 10 kilometres away from some
basic clinic.
* Mother and Child Health (MCH) facilities will be improved.
Money will be spent to ensure that each of Tanzania's 3,000
health centres has delivery kits, basic diagnosis equipment,
essential life-saving drugs and blood cell-generating pills.
At the same time between 17,000 and 20,000 village health
aides and traditional birth attendants will have their
skills upgraded in order to provide MCH to 8,000 villages.
* A nutrition campaign will discourage taboos which, in some
parts of the country, prohibit women from eating certain
life-sustaining foods.
* Another educational campaign will aim at finding social
consensus on reducing women's workload. As in other African
nations, women carry the triple burden of farm work,
household duties (including the fetching of water and
firewood which can consume most of a day), and child bearing
and raising. The heavy workload contributes to bad health.
During periods of child bearing women and their offspring are
severely weakened. Stepped-up family planning counselling
will be included in this component of the strategy.
Estimates put knowledge of contraceptive techniques at less
than 10 percent of the population, despite the availability
of family planning services at 65 percent of health centres.
Finance for the 10-year plan will come from development
agencies. The commitment is seen as part of the recognition
that Tanzania cannot get through the austerity period
without increased assistance for social services.
Donors so far include the United Nations Fund for Population
Activities (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Norwegian
Agency for International Development (NORAD), the Swedish
Development Authority (SIDA), and the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID).
* Origin: AlterNet Better World Communications (1:163/113)
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Patt Haring | United Nations | FAX: 212-787-1726
patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | BBS: 201-795-0733
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