SUCCESS STORIES

Protecting Mothers through Preventative Treatment

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The dank morning air pressed heavily on the crowd gathered at the Bubinza Health Center in rural, northern Tanzania. Women lingered in the open doorways of the small, four-room facility, waiting patiently. Many of them held small children in their laps; most of them were pregnant.

Expectant mothers travel up to six miles to reach the clinic, which serves five nearby villages. They rely on trained health workers here for all of their antenatal services, including protection from malaria.

“You can see from the health facility data that most people are coming in for malaria treatments, said Beatrice Mopoli, manager of the Bubinza Health Center. “Deaths from the disease are very high here. It’s endemic.”

An estimated 1.7 million Tanzanian women suffer from malaria during pregnancy every year. Expectant mothers are more vulnerable to the disease, which is also linked anemia, low birth weight and even neonatal death.

In partnership with JHPIEGO, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is providing essential protective services for expectant Tanzanian mothers, even in rural areas like Bubinza. Through an effort known as the ACCESS Program, JHPIEGO collaborates with the Tanzanian government, PMI and faith-based organizations to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths and improve the health of mothers and newborns.

An integral aspect of the program involves training health workers in facilities like the Bubinza Health Center on focused antenatal care (FANC) for expectant mothers. In FANC training, frontline workers learn to provide four high-quality antenatal visits and IPT, or intermittent preventive treatment against malaria.

By taking two doses of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) or another approved drug during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, women are protected significantly from malaria. The World Health Organization and other international health experts concur that IPT is a highly-effective intervention, while recipients of the service in Bubinza, give the service an invaluable endorsement as well.

“During my first pregnancy I got malaria and was very sick,” said Mary Elias, mother of five. “So when I received this medicine during this pregnancy I was very happy and have not been sick.” 

Other mothers agree.

“I had two doses of the medicine to keep me from getting malaria,” said Sara Charles, who brought her newborn to the Bubinza Health Center for vaccinations. “Now my baby has been born and we have had no problems with malaria. 

Early reports from targeted health centers with FANC-trained health workers showed that 44% of pregnant mothers received IPT, twice the national average. JHPIEGO now aims to reach all 5,000 health facilities nationwide with FANC training by 2009, which could protect millions of Tanzanian mothers from suffering with malaria.