BackgroundEarly antenatal care (ANC) initiation is a doorway to early detection and management of potential complications associated with pregnancy. Although the literature reports various factors associated with ANC initiation such as parity and age, pregnancy intentions is yet to be recognized as a possible predictor of timing of ANC initiation.MethodsData originate from a cross-sectional household survey on health behaviour and service utilization patterns. The survey was conducted in 2011 in Rufiji, Kilombero and Ulanga districts in Tanzania on 3,127 women from whom 910 of reproductive age who had given birth in the past two years and sought ANC at least once during pregnancy were selected for the current analysis. ANC initiation was considered to be early only if it occurred in the first trimester of pregnancy gestation. A recently completed pregnancy was defined as mistimed if a woman wanted it later, and if she did not want it at all the pregnancy was termed as unwanted. Chi-square was used to test for associations and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine how mistimed and unwanted pregnancies relate with timing of ANC initiation.ResultsAlthough 49.3% of the women intended to become pregnant, 50.7% (34.9% mistimed and 15.8% unwanted) became pregnant unintentionally. While ANC initiation in the 1st trimester was 18.5%, so was 71.7% and 9.9% in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that ANC initiation in the 2nd trimester was 1.68 (95% CI 1.10–2.58) and 2.00 (95% CI 1.05–3.82) times more likely for mistimed and unwanted pregnancies respectively compared to intended pregnancies. These estimates rose to 2.81 (95% CI 1.41–5.59) and 4.10 (95% CI 1.68–10.00) respectively in the 3rd trimester. We controlled for gravidity, age, education, household wealth, marital status, religion, district of residence and travel time to a health facility.ConclusionLate ANC initiation is a significant maternal and child health consequence of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies in Tanzania. Women should be empowered to delay or avoid pregnancies whenever they need to do so. Appropriate counseling to women, especially those who happen to conceive unintentionally is needed to minimize the possibility of delaying ANC initiation.

BackgroundIn Tanzania, maternal mortality ratio (MMR), unmet need for emergency obstetric care and health inequities across the country are in a critical state, particularly in rural areas. This study was established to determine the feasibility and impact of decentralizing comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care (CEmONC) services in underserved rural areas using associate clinicians.MethodsTen health centres (HCs) were upgraded by constructing and equipping maternity blocks, operating rooms, laboratories, staff houses and installing solar panels, standby generators and water supply systems. Twenty-three assistant medical officers (advanced level associate clinicians), and forty-four nurse-midwives and clinical officers (associate clinicians) were trained in CEmONC and anaesthesia respectively. CEmONC services were launched between 2009 and 2012. Monthly supportive supervision and clinical audits of adverse pregnancy outcomes were introduced in 2011 in these HCs and their respective district hospitals.FindingsAfter launching CEmONC services from 2009 to 2014 institutional deliveries increased in all upgraded rural HCs. Mean numbers of monthly deliveries increased by 151% and obstetric referrals decreased from 9% to 3% (p = 0.03) in HCs. A total of 43,846 deliveries and 2,890 caesarean sections (CS) were performed in these HCs making the mean proportion of all births in EmONC facilities of 128% and mean population-based CS rate of 9%. There were 190 maternal deaths and 1,198 intrapartum and very early neonatal deaths (IVEND) in all health facilities. Generally, health centres had statistically significantly lower maternal mortality ratios and IVEND rates than district hospitals (p < 0.00 and < 0.02 respectively). Of all deaths (maternal and IVEND) 84% to 96% were considered avoidable.ConclusionsThese findings strongly indicate that remotely located health centres in resource limited settings hold a great potential to increase accessibility to CEmONC services and to improve maternal and perinatal health.

BackgroundTanzania has been a pioneer in establishing community-level services, yet challenges remain in sustaining these systems and ensuring adequate human resource strategies. In particular, the added value of a cadre of professional community health workers is under debate. While Tanzania has the highest density of primary health care facilities in Africa, equitable access and quality of care remain a challenge. Utilization for many services proven to reduce child and maternal mortality is unacceptably low. Tanzanian policy initiatives have sought to address these problems by proposing expansion of community-based providers, but the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW ) lacks evidence that this merits national implementation. The Tanzania Connect Project is a randomized cluster trial located in three rural districts with a population of roughly 360,000 ( Kilombero, Rufiji, and Ulanga).Description of interventionConnect aims to test whether introducing a community health worker into a general program of health systems strengthening and referral improvement will reduce child mortality, improve access to services, expand utilization, and alter reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health seeking behavior; thereby accelerating progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. Connect has introduced a new cadre — Community Health Agents (CHA) — who were recruited from and work in their communities. To support the CHA, Connect developed supervisory systems, launched information and monitoring operations, and implemented logistics support for integration with existing district and village operations. In addition, Connect’s district-wide emergency referral strengthening intervention includes clinical and operational improvements.Evaluation designDesigned as a community-based cluster-randomized trial, CHA were randomly assigned to 50 of the 101 villages within the Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in the three study districts. To garner detailed information on household characteristics, behaviors, and service exposure, a random sub-sample survey of 3,300 women of reproductive age will be conducted at the baseline and endline. The referral system intervention will use baseline, midline, and endline facility-based data to assess systemic changes. Implementation and impact research of Connect will assess whether and how the presence of the CHA at village level provides added life-saving value to the health system.DiscussionGlobal commitment to launching community-based primary health care has accelerated in recent years, with much of the implementation focused on Africa. Despite extensive investment, no program has been guided by a truly experimental study. Connect will not only address Tanzania’s need for policy and operational research, it will bridge a critical international knowledge gap concerning the added value of salaried professional community health workers in the context of a high density of fixed facilities.Trial registration: ISRCTN96819844

BackgroundWith 15-30% met need for comprehensive emergency obstetrical care (CEmOC) and a 3% caesarean section rate, Tanzania needs to expand the number of facilities providing these services in more remote areas. Considering severe shortage of human resources for health in the country, currently operating at 32% of the required skilled workforce, an intensive three-month course was developed to train non-physician clinicians for remote health centres.MethodsCompetency-based curricula for assistant medical officers' (AMOs) training in CEmOC, and for nurses, midwives and clinical officers in anaesthesia and operation theatre etiquette were developed and implemented in Ifakara, Tanzania. The required key competencies were identified, taught and objectively assessed. The training involved hands-on sessions, lectures and discussions. Participants were purposely selected in teams from remote health centres where CEmOC services were planned. Monthly supportive supervision after graduation was carried out in the upgraded health centresResultsA total of 43 care providers from 12 health centres located in 11 rural districts in Tanzania and 2 from Somalia were trained from June 2009 to April 2010. Of these 14 were AMOs trained in CEmOC and 31 nurse-midwives and clinical officers trained in anaesthesia. During training, participants performed 278 major obstetric surgeries, 141 manual removal of placenta and evacuation of incomplete and septic abortions, and 1161 anaesthetic procedures under supervision. The first 8 months after introduction of CEmOC services in 3 health centres resulted in 179 caesarean sections, a remarkable increase of institutional deliveries by up to 300%, decreased fresh stillbirth rate (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.1-1.7) and reduced obstetric referrals (OR: 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1-0.4)). There were two maternal deaths, both arriving in a moribund condition.ConclusionsTanzanian AMOs, clinical officers, and nurse-midwives can be trained as a team, in a three-month course, to provide effective CEmOC and anaesthesia in remote health centres.

Global health education (GHE) continues to be a growing initiative in many medical schools across the world. This focus is no longer limited to participants from high-income countries and has expanded to institutions and students from low- and middle-income settings. With this shift has come a need to develop meaningful curricula through engagement between educators and learners who represent the sending institutions and the diverse settings in which GHE takes place. The Bellagio Global Health Education Initiative (BGHEI) was founded to create a space for such debate and discussion and to generate guidelines towards a universal curriculum for global health. In this article, we describe the development and process of our work and outline six overarching principles that ought to be considered when adopting an inclusive approach to GHE curriculum development.