International Development Grant
Accelerating Maternal Newborn and Child Health in Zanzibar
Project Number: CA-3-D001583001
Status: Closed
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $15,000,000.00
Start Date: March 31, 2015
End Date: October 31, 2019
Duration: 4.6 years
Project Description
This project aims to improve maternal newborn and child health in Zanzibar by strengthening its health system and the ability of its health workers to deliver live-saving health services to mothers newborns and children. The project seeks to increase the coverage of quality emergency obstetric care newborn and child health services and high impact nutrition interventions to all ten regions benefitting more than 75 000 pregnant women 130 000 mothers and 390 000 children and youth. Some project activities include: (1) purchasing essential medicines supplies and equipment for maternal newborn and child health services; (2) supporting training programs for assistant medical officers and nurses on comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care and anaesthesia; (3) supporting e-learning and training that includes the use of multimedia material on difficulties and life-threatening complications that can occur during pregnancy or child birth such as high blood pressure or loss of blood after child birth; (4) building the ability of tutors clinical instructors and preceptors to teach best practices in service delivery for maternal newborn and child health; (5) training health workers and community health workers on newborn and child care; (6) promoting care seeking behaviour to pregnant women mothers and caregivers of children under the age of five and adolescents; and (7) refurbishing and equipping district hospitals cottage hospitals maternity hospitals and health centres providing maternity services.
Expected Results
The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) strengthened health system to deliver equitable and integrated health services including improvement of the referral system; and (2) increased coverage of quality emergency obstetric care newborn and child health services including high impact nutrition interventions.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of the end of the project (October 2019) include: (1) trained and supervised 1 760 community health volunteers across 10 districts in Zanzibar and provided information about safe delivery practices risk factors in pregnancy family planning child nutrition hygiene and sanitation and standard health checks for children and newborns. This has helped increase the use of essential health services in these districts; (2) developed maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems at central district and facility levels alongside community and health facility guidelines and tools for identifying reporting and reviewing deaths to inform evidence-based maternal mortality interventions. This has led to a reduction in health facility-based maternal mortality from 277 per 100 000 live births in 2016 to 152 per 100 000 live births in 2018 and a reduction in neonatal deaths from 11.3 per 1 000 live births in 2017 to 8.5 per 1 000 live births in 2018; (3) strengthened the capacity of human resources for health through improved training for nurses and midwives supported higher education for five obstetrician gynecologists and nine midwives who now work as lecturers at the College of Health Sciences at the State University of Zanzibar reviewed the College of Health Sciences’ midwifery and nursing’ curriculum and established mentorship programs in Pemba and Unguja; (4) refurbished and upgraded six primary health care units for 24 hours a day/seven days a week access to emergency obstetric and newborn care and basic maternity services; (5) procured blood bank equipment for Zanzibar Blood Transfusion Services resulting in the program being able to provide 94% of the 16 000 units of blood requested in 2018; (6) improved nutrition status among children under five by supporting the development of the Zanzibar Multisectoral Nutrition Action Plan July 2019 - June 2024; and (7) improved the nutrition status of children under five by facilitating ac
Key Information
Executing Agency:
UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
WGM Africa
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Contributions to specific-purpose programmes and funds managed by implementing partners
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Department-Initiated