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40 Resources Found


A Regional Assessment of Facility-Level Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response Systems in Four Sub-Saharan African Countries

From 2016–2017, MCSP conducted an assessment on maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response (MPDSR) implementation in four sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The objectives of the assessment were to 1) assess implementation status of MPDSR processes at subnational and facility levels, and 2) describe facilitators and barriers to sustainable subnational MPDSR […]

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A Review of the Maternal and Newborn Health Content of National Health Management Information Systems in 13 Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

This report summarizes the results and recommendations from a review of health management information system data collection forms and reporting formats in 13 MCHIP countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. […]

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Assessing the Effectiveness of a Web-Based Vaccine Information Management System on Immunization-Related Data Functions

In Tanzania, MCSP provides technical support to the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children (MOHCDGEC) in seven regions focused on ensuring that all women, newborns, and children who are most in need have equitable access to quality health care services to save lives. The Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) Program of the […]

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Assessment of Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) Implementation in Kagera and Mara Region, Tanzania

There is global consensus that accurate information about causes of death through mortality audits is needed to help inform efforts to end preventable maternal and perinatal deaths. Tanzania’s Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) and MCSP aimed to document experiences to date in implementing maternal death review, perinatal death review, and/or […]

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Cervical Cancer Prevention in Tanzania

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC), MCSP Tanzania worked to strengthen cervical cancer prevention implementation by building local capacity among national, regional, and facility-level staff to execute a comprehensive, sustainable, high-quality, and results-based program. […]

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Community Monitoring of Individual Children’s Vaccinations

In low- and middle-income countries, unsatisfactory vaccination coverage often reflects services that are not sufficiently accessible, convenient, reliable, or friendly. It may also reflect a lack of public understanding or trust in vaccination and/or vaccination services. Additionally, in developing countries, various sociocultural factors affect the likelihood that families make the effort to get their children […]

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Cross-sectional observational assessment of quality of newborn care immediately after birth in health facilities across six sub-Saharan African countries

Published in BMJ Open, this article presents information on the quality of newborn care services and health facility readiness to provide newborn care in six African countries, and advocates for the improvement of providers’ essential newborn care knowledge and skills. To read the full, open access article in the journal BMJ Open, click here. […]

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Designing Interoperable Health Information Systems Using Enterprise Architecture Approach in Resource‐Limited Countries

The overall goal of this literature review is to identify best practices related to Enterprise Architecture (EA)‐based health information system (HIS) design, implementation, and evaluation in low- and middle-income countries. Literature identified in this review present ways in which EA frameworks have been used to facilitate data collection, examine critical elements for effective health care […]

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Development and Validation of an Index to Measure the Quality of Facility-Based Labor and Delivery Care Processes in Sub-Saharan Africa

This open access, MCSP co-authored article in PLOS ONE examines intrapartum and immediate postpartum care in facility deliveries and explains a related quality assessment measure. […]

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Disease Surveillance in Tanzania

Together with the World Health Organization (WHO), MCSP supported multiple departments within the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) to strengthen the national disease surveillance systems, improve inter-departmental coordination, and develop plans for maintaining a strong surveillance system into the future. […]

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Essential Care for Every Baby Africa Regional Workshop

The Essential Care for Every Baby (ECEB) Africa Regional Workshop provided an opportunity for dialogue with select countries implementing Helping Babies Breathe at scale on the potential use of the ECEB learning materials to strengthen current newborn health programs and to develop a larger regional pool of ECEB master trainers and champions. In total, 85 […]

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Facility-based active management of the third stage of labour: assessment of quality in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa

This MCSP co-authored World Health Organization bulletin assesses the quality of facility-based active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda and Tanzania. The authors found the quality and coverage of AMTSL were high. However, to improve active management, there needs to be more research on optimizing the timing of uterotonic administration. […]

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Family Planning and Immunization Integration: Formative Report

A formative research study was conducted in Kagera Region, Tanzania, to understand current service delivery practices, perceptions of family planning and immunization services, and barriers and opportunities for service integration to inform the development of an integrated service delivery approach for FP and immunization. […]

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Family Planning and Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition: Formative Study

This report presents findings from a formative study conducted in two selected regions of Tanzania’s Lake Zone: Kagera and Mara. The study aimed to explore sociocultural and environmental cues to birth spacing and maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) practices and identify barriers and facilitating factors for optimal family planning and MIYCN practices. […]

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Family Planning Needs during the First Two Years Postpartum in Tanzania

This analysis is based on the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data from Tanzania. It summarizes key findings related to birth and pregnancy spacing, fertility return, unmet need for and use of family planning, and contact with key services for women during the period from the last birth through two years postpartum. […]

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Gender Technical Brief

MCSP developed tools and strategies to address gender-based constraints and opportunities related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) outcomes and integrated these into national strategies, training packages, and quality improvement tools. In Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique and Tanzania, these tools have been institutionalized by ministries of health and scaled up through national programs. […]

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How to Strengthen Nutrition into the Health Platform: Programmatic Evidence and Experience from Low and Middle Income Countries

MCSP launched their special issue Maternal and Child Nutrition journal supplement “How to Strengthen Nutrition into the Health Platform: Programmatic Evidence and Experience from Low and Middle Income Countries” on February 12, 2019. The supplement includes evidence and experiences on how to strengthen integration of nutrition into the health platform from a health systems perspective. […]

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Immunization in Tanzania

MCSP worked hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC)/ ImmunizationVaccine) Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) Program to strengthen the delivery of Tanzania’s routine immunization services and to introduce new life-saving vaccines. Partnering at national level and within four regions, MCSP supported the IVD Program to strengthen its workforce and […]

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Increasing Immunization Coverage Through Strengthening Comprehensive Council Health Planning (CCHP) in Kagera Tanzania

MCSP supported the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children (MOHCDGEC) Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) program to assess the Comprehensive Council Health Planning (CCHP) development process in Tanzania’s Kagera region. This assessment was then followed by a series of CCHP-strengthening activities in one Kagera council. The objective of the activities was to […]

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Lessons Learned from the Scale-Up Experience of Six High-Impact Interventions in Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

USAID’s predecessor flagship Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) worked in more than 50 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to assist in the scale up of high impact interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH). This brief summarizes the results of the Program’s scale up experience and […]

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Maternal and Child Survival Program Engagement in the 2017 Gavi Joint Appraisal and Country Engagement Framework: A Summary of Country Experiences

To assess the implementation progress and performance of Gavi’s support for new and underutilized vaccines and health system strengthening efforts, as well as its contribution to improved immunization coverage and equity, Gavi countries engage in regular review processes — either joint appraisals (JAs) or country engagement framework (CEF) reviews. This report provides an overview of […]

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Maternal and Child Survival Program Engagement in the 2018 Gavi Joint Appraisal and Portfolio Planning Processes

MCSP is a key immunization partner in many countries and a member of the Interagency Coordinating Committee and country technical working groups (TWGs). As such, MCSP joins other immunization partners in-country to participate in the joint appraisal (JA) and portfolio planning process reviews. This report provides an overview of MCSP country experiences during the recent […]

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Missed opportunities for family planning: an analysis of pregnancy risk and contraceptive method use among postpartum women in 21 low- and middle-income countries

This open access, MCSP co-authored article in the journal Contraception analyzes data from recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 21 low- and middle-income countries to examine patterns of interpregnancy intervals, unmet need, pregnancy risk, and family planning method use and method mix among women 0–23 months postpartum. The countries reviewed were: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, […]

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Modeling Mortality Impact of Three African Countries Supported by MCSP: The Cases of Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania

This report summarizes an impact modeling exercise that MCSP conducted to assess country progress as well as its contributions to changes in maternal, newborn, and child mortality trends. MCSP used the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to estimate the mortality impact of the documented changes in coverage of MCSP-supported HIIs. […]

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Perspectives on Maternal, Infant, and Young Child Nutrition and Family Planning: Considerations for Rollout of Integrated Services in Mara and Kagera Tanzania

Synergies exist between postpartum family planning and maternal, infant, and young child nutrition, yet health services are often provided in silos. This qualitative formative research study aimed to identify barriers and facilitating factors for optimal nutrition and PPFP practices in Mara and Kagera, Tanzania. Results informed the program design of an integrated nutrition and family […]

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Poster: A Regional Assessment of Facility-Level Maternity and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response Systems in Four Sub-Saharan Countries

Poster illustrating the assessment, objectives, methods, and results of an assessment of facility-level maternity and perinatal death surveillance and response systems in four sub-Saharan countries: Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Includes nine recommendations. […]

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Pre-Service Education for Immunization

In Tanzania, the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children’s (MOHCDGEC) Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) program relies on a multi-pronged approach for educating those who deliver the nation’s immunization services. A key component of this approach is pre-service education, or the training of health personnel such as doctors, nurses, environmental health officers […]

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Pre-Service Education in Tanzania

One of the key components of MCSP’s work in Tanzania is preservice education (PSE). MCSP Tanzania provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) to strengthen PSE systems and improve governance and midwifery training. […]

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Report on MCSP Support for the Polio Switch in April 2016

In April 2016, the largest and fastest globally-coordinated project in the history of immunization was carried out in 155 countries and territories. Known as “the switch,” this activity entailed replacing trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV), which protects against all three strains of the poliovirus, with the bivalent form (bOPV) which protects against two strains, types […]

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Respectful Maternity Care Workshop: Meeting Report

The respectful maternity care workshop was designed to support progress toward Millennium Development Goal 5 in Tanzania by increasing the percentage of women who give birth in suitable facilities. […]

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Review of Monitoring of Malaria in Pregnancy through National Health Management Systems: Results from Six Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

This report presents findings from a review of national Health Management Information Systems in six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to improve understanding of how Ministries of Health—both National Malaria Control Programs and Reproductive Health Units—are monitoring and reporting their malaria in pregnancy related program results, and how the data are being used. President’s Malaria Initiative countries […]

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Review of Monitoring of Malaria in Pregnancy through National Health Management Systems: Tanzania

This report presents findings from a review of national Health Management Information Systems in Tanzania to improve understanding of how the Ministry of Health—both National Malaria Control Programs and Reproductive Health Units—is monitoring and reporting their malaria in pregnancy related program results, and how the data are being used. The report also includes recommendations on […]

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Revitalizing Access to Permanent Methods

MCSP strives to prevent unintended pregnancies with a continued focus on quality service delivery that expands access to a wide range of voluntary contraceptive options, including permanent methods (PM). Of the 21 countries in which MCSP has supported FP interventions, seven (Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Haiti, Bangladesh, and Togo) included PM activities at the request […]

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Streamlining and Strengthening the Disease Surveillance System in Tanzania

The Government of Tanzania adopted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system as the platform for all disease surveillance activities in the country. Today, Tanzania’s IDSR guidelines include surveillance and response protocols for 34 diseases and conditions of public health importance. They outline, in detail, necessary recording and reporting procedures and activities to be […]

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Strengthening Comprehensive Council Health Planning to Increase Immunization Coverage

In Tanzania, MCSP provides technical support to the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children focused on ensuring that all women, newborns and children who are most in need have equitable access to high-quality health care services that save lives. In 2014, based on earlier work supported by MCSP’s predecessor project, the Maternal […]

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Strengthening Subnational Health Systems Management for Improved RMNCH

This brief describes MCSP’s efforts to more comprehensively strengthen management of the health sector and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH). It includes an approach for strengthening subnational health systems management and findings from various efforts implemented in Guatemala, Guinea, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania. It also presents key takeaways to improve future […]

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The Facility Perinatal Mortality Indicator Study: Tanzania A Study to Validate an Indicator on Facility-Based Perinatal Mortality

Measurements to assess potentially preventable stillbirths and newborn deaths which occur in health facilities are challenging. MCSP with the Tanzania Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC)—conducted a study to validate an indicator on facility-based perinatal mortality (FPM), which uses data found in the national health information systems (HMIS) in Tanzania. The […]

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Uterotonic use immediately following birth: using a novel methodology to estimate population coverage in four countries

This open access article, co-authored by MCSP staff and published in the journal BMC Health Services Research, highlights efforts to develop a methodology for estimating national coverage for uterotonic use immediately following birth. The methodology was then piloted in four countries: India (Jharkhand), Mozambique, Tanzania and Yemen. […]

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What Data on Maternal and Newborn Health Do National Health Management Information Systems Include?

This report reviews the data elements related to maternal and newborn health (MNH) present in the health management and information (HMIS) systems in 24 low- and lower middle-income countries. The review’s purpose is to quantify the extent to which key data elements are available in the antenatal, delivery and postpartum registers and associated summary reporting […]

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What to Know about Your CCEOP Application and Deploying Cold Chain Equipment

With one in five children in low- and middle-income countries still not fully vaccinated and thus at risk of preventable, life-threatening illnesses, immunization programs are under pressure to increase coverage and improve performance and efficiency. Populations are growing and immunization supply chains (iSCs) are facing constraints in reliable, optimal and sufficient cold chain equipment (CCE) […]

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Maternal and Child Survival Program