THAMINI UHAI – Aiming to reduce Maternal and Newborn deaths in Rural Areas

Who We Are

Thamini Uhai is a non-governmental organization supporting the Tanzanian government’s efforts to reduce maternal and newborn deaths in rural areas of Tanzania. Since 2008, Thamini Uhai, formerly known as World Lung Foundation, has established comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care (CEmONC) in 16 public health centers and five hospitals in Kigoma, Morogoro and Pwani regions. In the final phase of implementation, Thamini Uhai expanded its support in Kigoma to 29 dispensaries and two health centers offering basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care (BEmONC).

Moreover, Thamini Uhai implemented a pilot Birth companionship project in one hospital and eight health centers in Kigoma from 2017 to 2018 before scaling-up the intervention to selected facilities in Katavi region.

Working closely with the government at national, regional and local levels, Thamini uhai has established a model that operates on three basic principles:

1 Decentralizing EmONC services to the health-center level significantly expands access to lifesaving services;

2. EmONC can be provided safely by well-trained non-physician providers (task shifting); and

3. Demand generation is key for utilization of the available services.

Our Mission

To reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and disabilities through developing and promoting accessible and sustainable quality emergency obstetric and neonatal care and related services to vulnerable communities in Tanzania.

Our Vision

Sustainable maternal and neonatal care is available to all vulnerable communities in Tanzania and thereby eliminating preventable maternal and neonatal mortality.

Our Values

Thamini Uhai is about valuing life, it is about preserving lives, saving lives and improving lives. All this is encompassed in the complex intervention that the project has undertaken up to now and is planning for the coming years.

What We Do

Valuing, Preserving, saving and Improving Lives.

The cornerstone of World Lung Foundation's Maternal Health Program is task shifting, training, supervising and supporting non- physician clinics to provide care to thousands of women and newborns in project- supported facilities. We also provide continuous investment in health facility infrastructure. After initial training, We help these providers - assistant medical officers, nurse mid wives and clinical officers - to maintain and improve their new level of competency through continuous mentoring, medical education, skills workshops, clinical audits, and information and communication technology.ly operated under the brand "World Lung Foundation Tanzania," has undergone the strategically important process of registering as a Tanzanian NGO. Among other benefits, this offered the opportunity to provide a distinct brand for the new organization, one that more closely reflects its core mission of improving maternal and newborn health in line with the Tanzanian government's targets on maternal health and mortality.

Increasing Access to CEMONC services

WLF has launched a pilot referral project in Nguruka Health Center’s catchment area in Uvinza district to improve access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care and skilled birth attendance. The goal is to reduce the delay in reaching appropriate care the second of the three delays leading to maternal mortality. This innovative project aims to improve referral practice by working closely with health facilities and communities, using locally designed solutions to ensure referral preparedness, transportation, and communication.

Monitoring and Supportive Supervision

Mentoring is a central pillar of the program. Senior specialists have created an environment of close interaction, where team-based learning centers on actual clinical scenarios in the facilities. On their regular visits, regional program officers who are consultant obstetrician/gynecologists spend one to three days in each WLF-supported facility to conduct team-based practical training, which includes guiding and closely supervising A MOs and nurse midwives. This team-based approach to case management focuses on case studies, including emergency situations that provide critical learning opportunities.

Professional Development

The program has provided competency-based training in CEmONC for A MOs and obstetric anesthesia training for nurse-midwives and clinical officers. The curriculum covers both theory and practical skills. In 2015 the program started to build capacities of several dispensaries on skilled birth attendance and BEmONC. Continuing medical education (CME) entails highly focused and practical skills-building workshops conducted by specialist obstetricians, pediatricians and anesthesiologists. The workshops are about three days long and cover such subjects as neonatal resuscitation and vacuum extraction.

Area of Impact

Where We Work

The World Lung Foundation operates in Kigoma Region. It supports 37 health facilities to enable them deliver emergency obstetric care and Neonatal (EmONC).Accordingto TDHS 2010,Kigoma is one of the regions that reports poor indicators for maternal and prenatal mortality which calls for more investment in the health delivery system.