JK to health workers: You can stop maternal and child deaths

 President Jakaya Kikwete

President Jakaya Kikwete has appealed to health workers in the country to ensure that lives of women and children are not at risk during delivery.

Calling it a major national silent emergency, President Kikwete said it is a unacceptable that as many as 455 women out of every 100,000 live births die during delivery in a country boasting a comprehensive health system.

The president was giving his remarks during the launch of the ‘Tanzania countdown and a promise renewed on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child deaths’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

President Kikwete said while a lot has been achieved during the implementation of the Millenium Development Goals (MGDS) there were still sad stories of women and children who die for reasons which could be avoided.

He said the medical personnel and stakeholders must fight for increased utilisation of family planning services while also increasing the percentage of skilled health providers in the health sector.

He stated that many of the births were being conducted by traditional birth attendants who cannot handle delivery complications.

“We do not underrate the work done by these traditional birth attendants but measures must be taken to upgrade the qualifications of those dealing with helping pregnant mothers to deliver,” he said.

He asked the health ministry to make sure that men ware also included in programmes aiming to reduce maternal deaths in the country.

The president asked the health ministry to introduce Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) scorecards in all regions in the country which will show the regional performance in dealing with maternal and child health care problems.

He said the scorecards would allow effective supervision of the activities on reproductive health activities in respective regions by health officials.
The president said he himself will want to get the regional reports every four months “and not in six months as some officials suggested.”

“Matters concerning maternal and child health are very close to my heart. I will therefore want to have these scorecards every four month to know those regions which perform well and those which underperform.

He commended Singida Region for making sure that life saving items for women and children were readily available in the region.

Tanzania is one of the ten countries contributing to 61 percent and 66 percent of the global total of maternal and newborn deaths, respectively.
According to sources maternal mortality ratios are lowest in Dar es Salaam, Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions.

Mtwara, Tabora, Tanga, Lindi and Pwani have institutional maternal mortality ratios exceeding 200 per 100,000 live births.

Meanwhile President Kikwete has observed that some of the non-governmental organisations were diverting funds meant for maternal and child health affairs.
“We have organisations, although not many, who use funds meant to help maternal and child health activities for their own benefit,” he said.

“Instead of healing many mothers and children they help their own children,” he noted.  source The Guardian

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THINKING CRITICALLY: Sad watching the Bunge budget sitting

 Dr Azaveli Feza Lwatama 

Parliament is currently in its budget sitting and it is sad watching the conduct of the majority of its members. The sitting is supposed to be used by MPs to perform their cardinal civic duty of effecting oversight over government expenditure. Ministers are supposed to be held to account for the use of budgetary allocations passed by the last budget sitting.

Parliamentarians are also supposed to scrutinize and pass the next financial year’s budgetary allocations. What is sad is that parliamentary procedures such as threatening to block a ministry’s budget if the minister fails to give clear policy answers to questions put to him or her by parliamentarians are rendered ineffective by the tendency of the majority of MPs drawn from the ruling CCM to vote on the basis of party loyalty instead of the merits of arguments put forward by the minister’s response. Sadly, these ministers are also CCM parliamentarians, who were previously on the ruling party’s parliamentary backbenches.

Sadly, also, parliamentarians drawn from the ruling party constitute more than two thirds of the total number of lawmakers and can thus pass anything they wish without conceding anything to opposition MPs. Yet it is most often the case that parliamentarians drawn from the three main opposition parties, namely Chadema, CUF and NCCR-Mageuzi, who constitute less than one third of all MPs, are the ones who relentlessly seek to take away a shilling from the salaries of ministers whose answers are not only unsatisfactory but invariably delivered in an arrogant and paternalist tone meant to put down opposition lawmakers who seek ministers’ policy clarifications.

Again and again, one hears ministers nonchalantly stating that only a fraction of the financial resources the last budget allocated to their ministries were actually disbursed to them by the Treasury. Yet ruling party parliamentarians would only make feeble noises of protest over such budgetary misconduct. This is apart from ministers being allowed to get away with minor political injuries after their ministries had been clearly tagged by the Controller and Auditor General with red flags over allegations of misappropriation of public funds and other financial audit misdemeanours.

Even the CCM Publicity and Ideology Secretary, Nape Nnauye, earlier this week repeated remarks he and the party’s secretary-general Abdulrahman Kinana, had earlier made to the effect that ministers responsible for some key ministries, including agriculture, water, and education, were a great public burden (mizigo) and they ought to be held accountable.

Yet in Parliament, one observes the sad spectacle of CCM parliamentarians rallying support for these very ministers whenever an opposition MP directs an attack on their ministerial performance.

It was even sadder listening to contributions by CCM MPs relating to the passing of the ministerial budget of the office of the Vice President. This is the office in the Union government that is supposed to coordinate Union government activities, targeting the removal of what are cryptically called Union irks (kero). Instead of confronting the serious structural abnormalities of a two-tier “federal” government system that is crying out loud to be turned into a more normal and transparently federal structure consisting of three governments, CCM parliamentarians took it upon themselves to hurl insults and ridicule at the opposition spokesperson on legal affairs, Tundu Lissu.

It was after the clever opposition parliamentarian, who has been turned into a scarecrow by CCM propagandists, pointed out the irksome legal absurdities of the “unique” union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar. CCM parliamentarians wish everyone to forget that this great union was hurriedly stitched together by Tanzania’s great Pan Africanist but human founding fathers, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Sheikh Abeid Karume, in the murky geopolitical security waters in which both Zanzibar and Tanganyika were swimming back in 1964.

Critical thinking multiplies one’s sadness at the lack of foresight in the contributions of the defenders of the two-tier “federal” government Union structure when one looks at the stated top priorities of this year’s Sh19.6 trillion Union government budget, almost all of which covers Tanganyika’s non-Union maters such as infrastructure, water, energy, agriculture, basic education and basic healthcare. No wonder most Zanzibaris of goodwill have for years kept on demanding the adoption of a three-tier federal government structure that allows non-union matters of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to be given equitable support by an impartial federal sovereign state.


   

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CMSA mulls removing restrictions on capital movement next year

                                              Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA)
The Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) is contemplating to lift all restrictions which have been limiting the free movement of capital to and from the country before the end of the next year.

This was revealed by an official with the CMSA, Nicodemus Mkama, at the just ended CRDB Bank Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Arusha last week.
“Removing the limits of capital movement is a priority that would see increased inflows of investments as well as ample opportunities for investors to invest in the region,” he said.

He said it is a unique opportunity for CRDB bank and other banks to go for the investment opportunities offered by the region’s equity markets as well as stretching wings into other EAC member states.

For example, the restriction on foreign investors to buy over 60 per cent of shares in firms listed at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) will be lifted before the end of next year. In Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda there are no restrictions as movement is 100 per cent liberalised.

Also, the limitation for foreign investors to participate in the money markets and especially in the trading of government debt securities will be removed before the year end. Other member states like Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have already liberalised this aspect, he said.

Mkama from the Directorate of Legal Affairs and Enforcement, said for listed firms, cross listing is an excellent opportunity to access low cost capital which is necessary for their expansion in the region.

For example, with CRDB, crossing the border means, the bank would pursue projects which were impossible by being in DSE only.

CRDB bank’s Managing Director Dr Charles Kimei said being listed at the DSE was of paramount importance but by cross listing is of more significance to both the bank and the country’s economy at large.

“Logically, restricting of foreign investors by only 60 per cent participation in buying shares from DSE listed firms is a missed opportunity as the country is struggling to attract more investments,” he said.

He added, the same is true if domestic investors cross the country’s borders to invest outside. By this, it implies that the gains and other benefits will be brought back home which is healthy to the economy.  source The Guadian

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Dengue spreads to Isles, Shinyanga

The Mnazi Mmoja head of disease prevention, Dr Salma Masauni, confirmed the matter. She said at least two women were admitted to the hospital, one of whom is a businesswoman from the Mainland



Zanzibar/Dar es Salaam/Shinyanga. At least two people have been referred to the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital in Zanzibar, where they were admitted after being diagnosed with dengue fever.

The reports from the Isles came as health authorities in Shinyanga also said a case of a four-year-old child who died a few days ago may have been due to the dengue fever.

Meanwhile, the ministry of Health has issued a statement clarifying that treatment against dengue fever is free in all public health facilities.

The statement further warned private clinics that would receive government-funded test kits against charging patients.

According to the ministry, the dengue rapid diagnostic kits have been dispatched to all public health centres. There was, however, persistent reports from various public health facilities in Dar es Salaam that the kits were not available. Private health clinics have raised the testing fee, charging as much as Sh50,000.

It was also reported that some public health centres were charging between Sh2,500 and Sh3,000.

The ministry is also cautioning the public to be wary of quacks that are said to advance falsehoods that there are alternative treatments for dengue fever. ‘‘There is no known scientifically proven treatment for dengue fever,’’ says the statement.

Reports of the existence of an alternative treatment for dengue were circulating in social media after some dealers posted an advert meant to entice potential dengue victims.

In Zanzibar, the disease was discovered on Wednesday after two patients went for tests at Al-Rahma Hospital, a private facility. They were later rushed to Mnazi Mmoja Hospital, a government referral facility.

The Mnazi Mmoja head of disease prevention, Dr Salma Masauni, confirmed the matter. She said at least two women were admitted to the hospital, one of whom is a businesswoman from the Mainland.

She added that the other patient was from Kama Village on the outskirt of Unguja Town. Dr Masauni said both patients were in the intensive care unit (ICU).

“We have taken their blood samples to the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Dar es Salaam. We are waiting for further results,” she said.

he Zanzibar deputy minister for Health, Dr Sirra Ubwa Mamboya, said her office has already received the information and it was doing all it could to check the scourge.

In Shinyanga, the regional health department cautioned residents on the growing fear that the dengue fever could spread in the region.

The warning follows reports that one child who died at the hospital last week could have been a victim of the fever.

The caution was issued yesterday by the regional medical officer in charge, Dr Fredrick Mlekwa.

“Following the mounting fear of the disease, we forwarded the child’s sample results to Dar for further investigation.”

Yesterday, the deputy minister for health, Dr Stephen Kebwe, failed to explain why public hospitals continue to face a shortage of dengue test kits despite the government’s insistence that there was no problem.

Reported by Mwinyi Sadallah, Syriacus Buguzi, Fariji Msonsa, Julieth Ngarabali and Stella Ibengwe source the Citizen

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