Bill Gates foundation showers praise on Kikwete

 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has hailed President Jakaya Kikwete for being the global champion in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) issues saying he is worth emulating by other world leaders.

 

The praise were showered by Christopher Elias, Bill and Melinda Gates foundation Global Development President at a roundtable discussion with journalist who are under the scholarship of Global Health Strategies covering the ongoing 2015 Global Maternal and Newborn Health Conference here.

 

Elias was responding to a question from ‘The Guardian’ (Tanzania) which had sought to know how countries can address inequities in providing RMNCAH services even when they are constrained by financial resources.

 

According to Elias, addressing inequities depends on various factors among of them political leadership and accountability. 

 

Having political leaders like President Kikwete can make a difference in addressing inequities even if a country has few resources.

 

He said President Kikwete has been a huge champion both at global and national levels in championing RMNCAH issues with the intent of ending preventable maternal, newborn, children and adolescent deaths through improving accountability on RMNCAH in Tanzania and globally.

 

The introduction of RMNCAH scorecard to track and measure progress in RMNCAH issues, according to Elias, is one of the examples of improving accountability.

 

‘The Guardian’ has learnt that Tanzania launched its scorecard for RMNCAH in May 15, this year when inaguratinging The Sharpened One Plan, with the intent of improving accountability, collecting evidence for better decision making as well as sharing and learning, things which Elias mentioned when responding to the question as important to observe when addressing inequities.

 

The Sharpened One Plan aims at accelerating the reduction of maternal and newborn deaths in Tanzania.

 

The scorecard is a tool developed to track progress and foster an environment of accountability at all levels (district, regional and national). 

 

Using HMIS data, it generates a progress report every three months, showing improvements in key interventions for maternal, newborn and child survival, and where progress is slow, leaders are held to account.

 

President Kikwete has tasked regional executive leadership - the Regional Commissioners - with the responsibility of taking forward and delivering the priority strategies set out in The Sharpened One Plan, and ensuring that greater progress is made in the remaining days to reduce preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths. 

 

“I will need to see the scorecard report myself every three months,” Kikwete told regional commissioners, at the launch of the plan.

 

Latest data released by Countdown to 2015, a global initiative that tracks coverage levels for health interventions proved to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, together with data on equity of coverage, health financing, policy and health systems and other determinants of coverage in 75 countries including Tanzania, inequities exist between the poor and the rich in accessing RMNCAH services in Tanzania.

 

According to Countdown to 2015 report, the ability of a country to achieve high and equitable coverage of proven interventions depends on sufficient financial investments in women and children’s health, supportive legislations and resilient health systems, political stability also influence access to and use of health services.

 

Statistics availed by UNICEF during the 2015 GMNH conference show that, despite the progress made in reducing newborn and child mortality, disparities still remain high. 

 

Children from poorest families are 1.9 times likely to die before they reach the age of 5 compared to their counterparts in richest families.

 

A child whose mother is uneducated is 2.8 times likely to die before their fifth birthday compared to a child whose mother has at least secondary education, a child born in rural area is 1.7 times likely to die before age 5 compared to a child born in urban area.

 

According to UNICEF, nine out of 10 deaths of children under the age of 5 occur in low and middle income countries, one out of 12 children in sub-Saharan Africa die before reaching age 5, in South Asia 1 out of 19, while in high income countries 1 out of 147 children die before they reach their 5th birthday.

 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN