Prognosis for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Tanzania: Plans for Interventions in the Short, Medium and Long Term

This brief by Health Policy Project summarises government plans in Tanzania to accelerate progress towards Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 (including the One Plan, the Sharpened One Plan, BRN, and the One Plan II). The document outlines the funding challenges of meeting the targets within the various initiatives and calls for more government and development partner donor support to ensure the targets are met.Key indicators in TanzaniaTanzania is on track to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 concerning under-five mortality. However it is not on track to achieve its goals for maternal mortality (MDG 5), neonatal mortality and family planning. These targets could be achieved with good preventive and curative interventions.The Sharpened One PlanIn 2013, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW)’s One Plan was revised to help accelerate the country’s progress toward achieving MDGs 4 and 5. The result was the Sharpened One Plan, launched in April 2014.The Sharpened One Plan focused on interventions in two of the country’s poorest zones—Lake and Western – aiming to scale up interventions with the highest potential impact, such as family planning, care at birth, and postnatal care; mechanisms to avoid stockouts of commodities essential to reproductive maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH); and increased accountability and transparency at every level of the health system.If the Sharpened One Plan were fully funded, by the end of 2015 it could reduce:

• 30% of maternal deaths
• 31% of neonatal deaths
• 25% of under-five deaths

However, this requires more funding than the country is likely to raise by the end of 2015.Big Results NowIn 2014, with support from development partners, Tanzania launched Big Results Now (BRN) to complement the Sharpened One Plan. It included plans to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality through similar high-impact interventions in the Lake and Western zones by 20% by June 2018. It aimed to raise community awareness for BEmONC and CEmONC, upgrade facilities to offer these services, use mobile phone messaging to support use of the services at the upgraded facilities, and increase voluntary blood donations to overcome shortages.However BRN requires an investment of US$66 million (TZS 107 billion) and, so far, development partners have only committed funds to cover 19% of the CEmONC upgrade intervention. The total combined financial need for BRN and the Sharpened One Plan is high, and securing full funding for both will be a hard task.The One Plan IIThe new One Plan II 2016–2020 is currently being drafted to provide guiding principles moving beyond 2015. It will maintain the focus on high impact interventions in the Lake and Western zones, though it hopes to expand efforts to other rural populations. It also includes a focus on advocacy and private-public partnerships to support the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality.The One Plan II will require even more funding, however government funding for maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) in fact decreased 31% between 2012-13 and 2013-14. If maintained at this level, the government will only provide 6% of the total investment needed for the One Plan II. Tanzania needs increased government funding as well as support from development partners to implement its Plans and effect change.To read the briefing, please click here.McGill, D., Perales, N. & Dutta, A. (2015). Prognosis for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Tanzania. Plans for Interventions in the Short, Medium, and Long Term. Health Policy Project, Futures Group: Washington D.C.