Study in Tanzania seeks to find out why babies die before birth

Dar es Salaam. Researchers in Tanzania are working on a study that will establish the complexities behind cases of babies who die before birth (stillbirths) in the Lake Zone.

Being carried out at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC), Nyamagana and Misungwi Districts of Mwanza Region, the study is also involving community members and healthcare staff and is expected to find ways of preventing stillbirths in Mwanza and Tanzania as a whole.

“We want to get scientific evidence that will help us explain the complexities related to stillbirths. That’s when we can intervene to solve the problem,’’ said Principal Investigator of the study Dr Rose Laisser, who is also a Seniour Lecturer in Midwifery at the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences (Cuhas).

A medic who is not involved in the study, Dr Renick Kihongo from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (Muhas), explained that still birth is the death of an unborn baby (foetus)foetus, after 20 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. Thesituation may result into a feeling of guilt or grief to the mother, she says.

In the ongoing study, the researchers seek to establish the public health impact of stillbirths, says Dr Laisser who is leading the study, adding that such deaths are contributing to mothers’ depression and the cost goes beyond the affected families.

“We’ve heard of programs dealing with maternal and child mortality. Little is heard on stillbirths or rather those babies who die before they are born,” she noted.

The Cuhas Administrator, MrGeofreyLuena has informed The Citizen that on Tuesday, July 2, a team of 20 stakeholdersis expected to meet at the university in Mwanza regionto discuss the progress of this study which is supported by Manchester University.

The ongoing project is an initiative of the Lugina Africa Midwives research network (LAMRN), a network of midwives from six African countries namely Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania and their partner University of Manchester in United Kingdom, in collaboration with Cuhas.

“We’ve chosen to research on Mwanza region…where the reproductive rate is considered to be very high when compared to most other regions in the country,’’ she said during an interview with The Citizen.

“… we are doing this study because of the rising cases of death of such kind…,’ she said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were 2.6 million stillbirths globally in 2015, with more than 7178 deaths a day.

“The majority of these deaths occurred in developing countries. Ninety-eight percent occurred in low- and middle-income countries [including Tanzania],” says the report, titled:Maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, published on www.who.int

The ongoing study is in its second year of implementation and so far, the researchers says, over 1000 hospitals reports have been scrutinized and 87 people have been interviewed.

“Preliminary details show that most women prefer seeking services from traditional healers instead of going to the hospital…there are also cultural complexities related to such deaths,” said Dr Laisser.