The United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) announced last week that Tanzania is among four countries to benefit from a USD 12 billion fund awarded by the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to support the health sector in emerging countries.
The announcement was done by UNSG’s Mr. Ban Ki Moon during the Third International Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia early last week.
The GFF aims to mobilize resources from the private sector to Governmental institutions leveraging the public sector resources.
Consequently, Tanzania is expected to receive USD 86 million from the total fund over the next five years that will be used to implement new medical supply and to train staff for the reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH).
The funds raised by the GFF came from institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank Group, and Governments of Canada, Norway, and the United States together with other global health leaders, with the main goal of reducing maternal and child mortality rates by completely eliminating the preventable deaths such as those produced by contagion of diseases by infected medical supplies.
The infant mortality rate in Tanzania at 36 deaths per 1,000 births is currently more than 15 times higher from that one in developed countries, while the maternal mortality rate at 410 per 100,000 births is even more critical being almost 70 times higher according to the World Bank.
