MPs honour premature babies

Deputy Speaker of The National Assembly Job Ndugai on Monday this week led MPs to light candles in honour of premature babies at an advocacy event targeting them.

The function was organised jointly by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Jhpiego, Save the Children, Tanzania Midwifery Association, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Evidence for Action/Mama Ye, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and UNFPA to mark World Prematurity Day (WPD). UN has earmarked November 17 to mark WPD.

This is the fourth year WPD is being observed globally and the event is taking place in Tanzania for the first time.

Thanks to Jhpiego, Save the Children, Tanzania Midwifery Association, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Evidence for Action/Mama Ye, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and UNFPA for organizing the advocacy event targeting MPs.
According to Ndugai, who officiated the event, the advocacy event targeting

The event was largely an eye opener to the MPs, as most of them were unaware of challenges facing newborns, particularly premature babies.

Ndugai hailed the alliance for organizing the event aimed at raising the profile of new-born babies’ survival in Tanzania.

The alliance, according to the Deputy Speaker has brought a new thing to MPs because ‘premature issues’ were not known by many of them.

“For all the years I have been here I never heard people talking about premature babies,” Ndugai said and challenged men to be involved in the matter instead leaving it to mothers only, especially when the babies are ill.

 “There are so many things fathers can do to help, for instance, holding a premature baby at your chest popularly, known as kangoroo mother care, to provide heat to the baby born too soon,” Ndugai told the MPs.

Speaking at the same event Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare Kebwe Stephen Kebwe said Tanzania ranks 12th in the world to have the largest number of premature babies.

He said although the day has not officially been commemorated in the country the newborns’ survival is an important development issue for Tanzania.

Overall, while child deaths have decreased dramatically, progress for newborns’ survival has been much slower.

Every year according to Kebwe 39,000 Tanzanian babies do not survive their first month of life, ‘tragically this is the 11th highest number of newborn deaths in the world.’

In the context of World Prematurity Day, complications to premature babies, now contribute to one in every 10 deaths of children aged under five years in Tanzania.

The deputy minister said every year 213,500 babies are born prematurely. One in every nine babies according to Kebwe is a premature baby.

On behalf of the event organisers Craig Ferla said that 47,000 babies are stillborn every year (with no signs of life) - nearly half of them dying during delivery.

Newborn deaths alone now account for 40 per cent of all deaths to children under-five years old, but 80 per cent of all stillborn and newborn deaths result from preventable and treatable conditions.

According to Craig, despite the alarming situation of stillborn and newborn deaths in Tanzania there are various plans, strategies and commitments in place.

Sharpened One Plan which if implemented could save up to 9,400 newborn lives and avert 2,500 stillbirths, he said.

 Magareth Sitta, chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Social Services whose committee hosted the event, said the horror of the toll on babies’ survival is an issue that few MPs really have an in-depth understanding of – hence the voices of newborns remain largely muted.

She said collectively, event organizations have seen this as an opportunity “to raise the profile of the largely reversible situation prevailing for our babies, and catalyse a greater awareness, advocacy and accountability for transforming the survival chances of our babies and significantly reduce the newborn mortality rate.”