World Lung Foundation Notes with Interest President Kikwete’s Role in the United Nations Meeting in Geneva on Women’s and Children’s Health
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
WLF Urges the President to Make This
an Even
Greater Public Health Priority in
Tanzania
to Reduce Maternal Deaths
(Dar Es
Salaam, Tanzania) - With the United
Nation’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to
reduce maternal deaths falling far below the
mark in Tanzania and other African countries,
World Lung Foundation today urged President
Jakaya Kikwete, Co-Chair of the United Nations
Commission on Information and Accountability
for Women's and Children's Health, to use the
occasion to commit his office even further to
addressing the unacceptably high and needless
deaths caused by this issue.
World Lung Foundation just completed a Maternal Health Summit in Dar es Salaam and in Kigoma that brought together international experts, government officials, donors and medical experts to identify best practices and gaps in emergency obstetric care.
According to latest estimates, there are about 450 deaths from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births in Tanzania. In isolated rural regions, the cause is often a lack of obstetrical care, including emergency surgery for obstructed labor. Additionally, sixty-seven deaths occur before age one for every 1,000 live births.
Since 2006 World Lung Foundation has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to implement a state-of –the-art maternal health program in Tanzania. The program has trained personnel, renovated health centers and constructed operating theaters, maternity wards, laboratories and staff housing in Kigoma, Morogoro, Pwani and Singida.
Serious gaps exist in timely arrival of medicines and other resources, which WLF urges the government to address.
Dr. Staffan Bergstrom, WLF’s Project Director, said, "In addition to the three critical delays that are at the root of maternal ill health and death globally - delays in seeking care, delays in transportation, and delays in receiving the adequate medical attention at a health facility - we must also have basic resources like drugs and sutures to care for women who come to centers. We appreciate our partnership with the Government of Tanzania and look to them for a strong and serious commitment to save the lives of mothers and infants. ”
About World Lung Foundation
World
Lung Foundation was established in response to
the global epidemic of
lung disease, which kills 10 million people
each year. The organization
improves global lung health by improving local
capacity to conduct
research, develop public policy and deliver
public health education.
The organization's areas of emphasis are
tobacco control, tuberculosis,
HIV/AIDS, asthma, and child lung health. For
more information, please
visit worldlungfoundation.org