In collaboration with the Government of Tanzania, CCBRT’s Maternal & Newborn Health Capacity Building Programme (MHCB) aims to strengthen skills and expand the knowledge of clinicians, raising the quality of maternal and newborn care in 22 public health facilities in Dar es Salaam.
The MHCB team of doctors, nurse-midwives, and data managers train healthcare providers in a range of interventions and techniques, including comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care, antenatal care, surgical skills, anaesthesia, and neonatal care, including a focus on Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) for preterm babies. Using evidence-based techniques, MHCB supports systems change by investing in the Tanzanian health workforce, services, equipment, information systems, and critical infrastructure.
MHCB has also strengthened the referral system among its partner sites in Dar es Salaam. CCBRT’s Maternity & Newborn Wing can take on complicated cases and emergencies involving women with disabilities, histories of obstetric fistula, and adolescents.
Prevention of disabilities starts before a baby is born. Through prenatal counselling and public awareness-raising performances, MHCB disseminates messages about danger signs in pregnancy and the rights of people with disabilities. In addition, MHCB clinicians train health workers in early identification and referral of disabilities such as clubfoot, cleft lip/palate, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, and obstetric fistula.