More and Better Midwives in Rural Tanzania (MBM-RTz)

This is a five-year project funded by the Government of Canada and implemented by Jhpiego, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, in partnership with Amref Health Africa, the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) and TAMA.

The goal of the project is to increase the number of competent nurse-midwives capable of providing quality nursing-midwifery services in the Lake and Western Zones of Tanzania through evidence-based interventions. The core package of MBM-RTz interventions is being implemented within 20 health training institutions and 19 in-service training clinical practice sites/health facilities in 19 districts across eight regions (Mwanza, Kagera, Mara, Simiyu, Shinyanga, Kigoma, Tabora, and Geita).

The project addresses issues related to the pre-service education system, such as more equitable enrollment, expedited and equitable deployment, and competency-based refresher training for nurse-midwives to strengthen their clinical skills. The project is also enhancing the capacity of experienced midwives to mentor new midwifery graduates and other health workers, and strengthening the capacity of local government authorities for planning, recruitment, deployment and retention of nurse-midwives.

By the end of this project, the planned activities are expected to benefit:

  • 280,000 labour and delivery clients
  • More than 120,000 antenatal clients