Building on 14 years of multidisciplinary collaboration the Safer Births Bundle of Care program was awarded US$4.5 million in funding from Global Financing Facility, a division of the World Bank, to scale-up in 30 hospitals in Tanzania. Due to promising preliminary results, it was awarded a further US$8.5 million and in early 2024 is was scaled to over 150 health facilities in five regions in Tanzania, reaching thousands of healthcare providers.
What is Safer Births Bundle of Care?
The Safer Births Bundle of Care program focusses on the use of on-site, low dose high frequency training for the most common causes of neonatal and maternal mortality. The program integrates the use of simulators and clinical innovations to support those managing childbirth. Data collection and analysis is a key component of the program, allowing for continuous quality improvement which is essential to increase newborn and maternal survival. Sustainability of the implementation is enabled by strong ownership from the Ministry of Health and from regular mentorship and supportive supervision of local facilitators who are trained in simulation methodology.
Original Goal
Train and equip 900 healthcare workers to save an additional 600 mothers and 5400 newborns by 2023. To date, we’ve exceeded our goal already with more than 1200 trained. The scale up to over 150 hospitals will reach nearly 3000 healthcare workers, with the potential to save thousands of mothers and newborns.
What we hoped to achieve:
- 10% reduction in maternal deaths
- 25% reduction in fresh still births
- 50% reduction in early neonatal deaths within 24 hours
Preliminary results from the first phase of SBBC in Tanzania suggest we are exceeding these aims, with final results set to be published in 2024.
The team
Benjamin A. Kamala, Paschal F. Mdoe, Hege L. Ersdal, Robert Moshiro, Jorgen Linde, Ingvild Dalen, Dunstan R. Bishanga, Felix Ambrose Bundala, Ahmad M. Makuwani, Boniphace Marwa Richard, Pius David Muzzazzi, Ivony Kamala.
Six Tanzanian PhD fellows, with their Tanzanian supervisors, will build an academic network and capacity in Tanzania and Haydom, laying the ground for a Center of Excellence in Simulation and Research at Haydom. PhD Candidates: Damas Juma Kayera, Vickfarajaeli Z. Daudi, Florence Salvatory Kalabamu, Grace Patrick Qorro, Felix Ambrose Bundala, Catherine Massay.
Partners
Haydom Lutheran Hospital, the Tanzanian Ministries in Health (MoH and PO-RALG), the Tanzanian Midwifery Association (TAMA), the Pediatric Association of Tanzania (PAT), Stavanger University Hospital (Norway), SAFER (a simulation and implementation center based in Norway), Laerdal Global Health, and Unicef.