Africa-Press – Tanzania. IFAKARA Health Institute and Maternity Foundation have partnered with the Danish Embassy in Tanzania and the Ole Kirk Foundation to launch a Safe Delivery App to support healthcare workers to provide a safer childbirth for mothers and newborns.
Speaking during the launch of the App, Deputy Permanent Secretary responsible for Health Services at the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government Dr Grace Magembe said the App has come at a right time because it will help to reduce maternal mortality.
Dr Magembe added that the new tool will reach remote healthcare workers and the government will reduce the cost of training health care providers.
She said digital technologies play a fundamental role in facilitating timely availability of high-quality health information for provision of better-quality health care services.
It is a mobile learning and training tool to manage childbirth related situations with Swahili and English versions of language use.
The Danish Ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Mette Norgaard Dissing-Spandet said as a long-time partner with Tanzania; her country will continue to support the government in reducing maternal mortality in the country.
The envoy added that, her country has also been supporting healthcare sector through Tanzania’s Health Basket Fund (HBF) as a pooled funding mechanism that contributes to government efforts to strengthen primary health care services
“The Safer Delivery App is a powerful tool and it will be used in the Tanzania context, we believe it will bring positive change for maternal services in this country,” she said.
Project Coordinator, Mr Donat Shamba said Tanzania’s midwives and other skilled birth attendants have the lives of mothers and newborns in their hands every day with the help of App will continue to support healthcare workers in their daily work and reduce the mortality rate.
He explained that, despite significant efforts by the government, civil society, and international agencies to improve access to quality care for mothers and newborns in Tanzania, the maternal mortality rate was still estimated at 556 per 100,000 live births in 2016.
“One of the keys to improve maternal health is to secure proper training of and support to healthcare workers, and the Safe Delivery App is a handy, efficient, and innovative tool to do so,” he said.
Mr Shamba explained that, the App is free and works offline, and it uses simple, intuitive animated instructions to guide healthcare workers in basic emergency obstetric and newborn care as well as management of Covid-19.
The Project Coordinator explained that the Safe Delivery App in Tanzania Pilot Study was conducted at Mpwapwa district in Dodoma region, whereby 56 health workers in 54 health facilities were introduced to Baseline (July 2017) and end-point (February 2018) data were collected.
He said the specific objective was to explore knowledge and attitude of skilled birth attendants in relation to the Safe Delivery App.
The pilot study brought positive results which increased knowledge and confidence on managing complications.
Chief Executive Officer of Maternity Foundation, Ms Anna Felsen, expressed the great partnership on the ground a saying they are delighted to be able to get the Safe Delivery App into the hands of midwives and other skilled birth attendants across Tanzania.
“With the Safe Delivery App, our healthcare workers now have new tools to always refer to, update their knowledge and skills on how to handle different complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, so that no life should be lost during childbirth,” she said.
The work was led by Ifakara Health Institute and with important partners including Pediatrics Association of Tanzania (PAT) and the Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (AGOTA) contributing with thorough review and adaptation of the clinical content of the App.
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