6,000 mothers benefit from health project in two upcountry regions

Dar es Salaam. Six thousand mothers have benefited from a health project.

Known as ‘Mobilising Maternal Health in Tanzania’, the project is conducted by Vodacom Foundation, Vodafone, Usaid, Touch Foundation and Pathfinder International.

It is aimed at reducing maternal mortality and morbidity in Tanzania through a combination of health system improvements and innovative mobile solutions.

It also facilitates transport to pregnant women in emergency situations. “Since it was launched in Sengerema and Shinyanga in March last year, the project has saved lives of 580 pregnant women and infants and facilitated training of community health workers. The community health workers have created awareness to 6,000 expectant women on the importance of attending clinics to save lives,” the company said in a statement yesterday.

Community health workers have been trained, emergency obstetric care services improved, treatment facilitated and women with obstetric fistula treated at the Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania .

Vodacom Tanzania Foundation has been facilitating transport to help mothers and their infants to reach health care facilities in time by paying local taxi drivers through M-Pesa. The taxi drivers who are part of the project are those who are already connected to a mobile application that allows pregnant women to call them 24/7 once there is an urgency to get to a health facility.

“The taxi drivers are trained to receive the emergency calls made by the expectant mothers 24/7 and drive them to a nearest health facility,” said Vodacom Tanzania corporate affairs head Rosalynn Mworia. Beneficiary Kwangu Jackson of Sengerema is happy with the project.