Africa-Press – Tanzania. Representatives from the United States Government and the Tanzania Government held a conference with the purpose of celebrating the achievements of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Boresha Afya Lake and Western Zone activity.
A Thursday’s statement released by the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam stated that the partnership between USAID and Tanzania had the goal of improving health outcomes for millions of Tanzania nationals in Kigoma, Simiyu, Geita, Mwanza, Kagera, Shinyanga, Mara and Zanzibar.
Speaking during the event conducted virtually, USAID Mission Director V. Kate Somvongsiri said they are committed to invest in health systems strengthening and breakthrough innovations to prevent maternal, newborns, children and adolescents’ deaths by helping women and children access essential, and often lifesaving, health services.
“We are excited to continue partnering with you all to further reduce maternal and newborn deaths. “Through a new activity that is under procurement, we will build on the lessons learned from Boresha Afya and leverage the capacity and energy that continues to grow and shine in this country” said the USAID Mission Director V. Kate Somvongsiri
According to the US Embassy, the five-year $59 million Boresha Afya activity enabled Tanzanian women, children, adolescents and their caregivers to utilize improved malaria, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent (RMNCAH) services.
“And when the world changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Boresha Afya expanded its support to include important actions to combat the spread of COVID- 19, including over $1 million to support case management, emergency, and critical care in both Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania,” the statement said.
USAID has achieved tremendous improvements in the quality of RMNCAH and malaria services and improvements of key health performance indicators by reducing the number of maternal deaths in Kagera, Mara and Geita from 231 in 2016 to 170 in 2020 (26 percent); In Zanzibar, together, we reduced the number of maternal deaths in supported hospitals from 67 in 2016 to 47 in 2020 (30 percent). This was accomplished by conducting reviews and addressing identified gaps.
Other areas mentioned were increasing postpartum family planning uptake from 12 percent in 2016/17 to 29 percent in 2019/20, ensuring that couples have access to quality family planning services immediately after giving birth and supporting healthy birth spacing and the well-being of both mother and child and Increased protection against malaria for expectant mothers and unborn babies through uptake of intermittent preventive therapy (IPTp3+), with usage incre
