Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributes 56% of the global burden of maternal deaths. Ironically the region has the lowest progress towards achieving the MDG 4&5. About 8,000 and 2,600 maternal deaths occur in Tanzania and Malawi annually, mostly from preventable causes. Women from poor families and rural areas constituting the majority of those deaths. Similarly, in SSA, there is significant preventable perinatal loss.
The high maternal and perinatal death could in part be caused by the chronic shortage of physicians and midwives. Compounding the problem is the uneven distribution of the few health workers with most of them concentrated in the urban areas. Midwives and doctors require a relatively long period of training, but are poorly retained. Non-physician clinicians on the contrary are trained for a relatively shorter period, are more willing to be deployed and stay in the rural areas, and have higher retention rates.
The poster provides a plan to evaluate the Enhancing Training and Appropriate Technologies for Mothers and Babies in Africa (ETATMBA) programme which has trained midwives and non-physician clkinians in maternal and newborn care.