UZAZI BORA PROJECT 2012-2014:
Uzazi Bora Project 2012-2014: Improving the quality of maternal health services during labour, delivery and post-delivery in Dar es Salaam: Uzazi Bora was a two-year implementation research project implemented by MDH in collaboration with Temeke MMOH, the Tanzania Ministry of Health, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB) at Harvard University. The overall aim of the project was to investigate and address gaps in respectful care during childbirth as well as evaluating interventions to mitigate the impacts of maternal deaths on the health and wellbeing on the children left behind. At baseline survey, the project revealed that up to 15% of post-partum women at facility-based exit interview and 77% at home-based interview reported some form of D&A during facility-based childbirth. Following these findings two interventions were identified and implemented to address D&A observed, i.e.: (1) Open Birth Days (OBD) and (2) Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) workshops, which revealed a promising trend towards addressing D&A during childbirth.Overall, this project provided among the earliest evidence to describe, quantify and raise awareness on the magnitude of D&A in Tanzania. The inclusive and participatory approach used by the project greatly contributed to mobilize and engage women-clients themselves, health care providers, health managers and health stakeholders in general to acknowledge and begin to take steps to address gaps in respectful care during childbirth, as a significant barrier to quality and outcomes of maternal health services.