Multimedia: Fighting maternal mortality in Tanzania.
Dr. Michael Curci, retired after 30 years of practice as a general and pediatric surgeon, moved with his wife to Tanzania to help establish these health services in rural Kigoma—and started a new chapter in his life.
In 2007 WLF provided US$1 million to the Ndela Youth Development Center in Tanzania, where infant and maternal mortality rates rank among the world's highest. In the rural region of Kigoma, maternal and neonatal health care services are nearly impossible to access because of a severe shortage of skilled physicians, inadequate equipment and facilities, and poor roads. WLF's grant funded critical health care improvements, including staff training and housing, new operating rooms, and reliable supplies of electricity and clean water.
As a result of this project, 1,500 fewer infants will die in the days immediately following birth, and 350 fewer women will die in childbirth each year, according to the Ndela Center's estimates. Because of the first year's success, WLF gave another $3.4 million to the project in March 2008.