When will it be our turn?

The health sector is not one of the prioritised sectors in the Big Results Now programme, for ambitious transformative results in the short-term. Why not?Prime Minister Pinda has told me that maybe the leadership don’t really appreciate the scale of the everyday reality of our mothers and babies dying in Tanzania.  Maybe the health sector had not been able to pitch its cause persuasively enough when the priorities were being hotly debated.Yet it is surely imperative of our leadership, and of us all, that we must think Big Results, and we must think Now, when it comes to the survival of our mothers and babies.Big Results Now for our mothers and babies must be achieved at all levels. I have blogged before about the encouraging efforts being made in Mara region spearheaded by the regional leadership who are determined to see a transformation in the fortunes of their mothers and babies.I’m excited to learn in the last few days from the Reproductive Child Health Section that they have now been tasked to set out how they would achieve Big Results Now going forward.Concurrently determined efforts are being made by partners - under the coordination of the Ministry of Health - to conduct a mid-term review of the the national strategy roadmap for accelerating reduction of maternal newborn and child deaths 2008-15 (known as the One Plan). The aim is to develop and launch a sharpened plan of action in the next two years.The direction and momentum is promising, but it will all mean absolutely nothing if we don’t see the desired turnaround in our mothers and babies’ survival.I am excited that in a couple of weeks’ time I will have the privilege of the Prime Minister’s company once again, this time as he graces this year’s White Ribbon Day on 15 March that will be held in Mtowisa ward of Sumbawanga Rural district.Join us and help us to make maternal and newborn health a priority for all of our leaders.