Tanzania has cut maternal deaths by 80%, from 556 per 100,000 live births to just 104, and reduced under-five mortality from 67 per 1,000 live births to 43 between 2016 and 2022, earning international recognition as a continental leader in maternal and child health. The figures, presented at a government review session in Dar es Salaam, reflect one of the most dramatic health turnarounds on the continent in recent years.
- Dr Ahmad Makuwani, Director of Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health at Tanzania’s Ministry of Health, presented the data at a working session reviewing the One Plan III strategic framework for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, adolescent, and nutrition health.
- President Samia Suluhu Hassan was awarded the Gates Foundation Global Goalkeeper Award in recognition of her leadership, becoming the 7th recipient of the award globally and the first African head of state to receive the honour.
- Under her administration, the government significantly increased health funding, expanded medicine supply chains, and built over 530 delivery centres across the country to reduce deaths during and after childbirth.
- Neonatal mortality, covering deaths among children under 28 days old, remains a critical challenge that health officials say requires continued focus despite the broader progress.
The progress is grounded in sustained policy commitment rather than a single intervention. Tanzania’s One Plan framework has coordinated government action across funding, infrastructure, supply chains, and community health workers over multiple years. The Gates Goalkeeper Award, presented annually to a global leader advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, places Tanzania alongside a short list of countries where measurable health transformation has outpaced regional averages. Dr Makuwani noted that Tanzania’s model should now be shared with other African nations as a replicable framework for reducing maternal and child mortality continent-wide.
The Bigger Picture: An 80% reduction in maternal mortality in under a decade is not a health statistic. It is an investment signal. For development finance institutions, insurers, and private healthcare operators assessing East Africa, Tanzania has demonstrated that targeted public health spending produces measurable returns at scale. The combination of infrastructure buildout, supply chain reform, and executive leadership at the presidential level has created a model that peers across the continent are now being asked to study. Whether Tanzania can sustain the trajectory through the next electoral cycle will determine whether this becomes a permanent baseline or a high-water mark.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
