A bold vision for maternal health: leaving no mother behind.
In the pursuit of sustainable development, we must recognize that it's not just about economic growth or infrastructure expansion. It's about transforming lives and ensuring that basic human needs, especially health, are accessible to all. Health is the cornerstone of human potential, and maternal health is a critical aspect of this foundation.
Zanzibar's journey towards stronger maternal healthcare is a testament to this understanding. With 98.9% of pregnant women attending antenatal care visits and 79.4% completing four or more visits, the island has made remarkable progress. However, the persistent high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality, with neonatal mortality at 42 per 1,000 live births, highlight a crucial gap. It's not just about the number of visits but the quality of care received during each visit.
Financial barriers, gaps in service quality, and fragmented health services continue to hinder progress, especially for economically disadvantaged populations. This is where the ZHSF Mothers Project steps in, adopting the innovative MomCare model. By leveraging digital platforms, smart subsidies, and public-private collaboration, the project aims to improve pregnancy outcomes for low-income and high-risk women.
The project integrates with Zanzibar's Health Equity Fund (HEF), ensuring co-financed maternal care insurance for the poorest women. This demand-side financing model empowers women directly, providing them with a maternal care insurance package that is digitally tracked. This approach not only improves access to timely, high-quality maternal services but also promotes accountability and efficient resource utilization.
By seamlessly integrating with government-owned digital systems like the Zanzibar Electronic Medical Records (ZanEMR) and the ZHSF Claims Portal, the project ensures transparency and real-time tracking. This data-driven approach supports prompt clinical interventions, making maternal care more proactive and patient-centered.
The project's ultimate goal is to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes by promoting early and frequent antenatal care visits, skilled deliveries, and postnatal care. With adequate financing, the project ensures that women receive all necessary interventions as per the national maternal care guidelines. The expected outcomes are promising: an increase in early ANC bookings (within 12 weeks) to 40%, up from the current 16%, and a skilled delivery rate of 95% of all deliveries.
To date, over 2,300 pregnant women have benefited from the project, gaining access to comprehensive maternal and child health services across 25 healthcare facilities in Unguja and Pemba. The flexibility to choose where and when to access services, without the barrier of ability to pay, is a significant step towards equitable healthcare.
The project also promotes a quality-driven approach, incentivizing health facilities to provide high-quality care. Patient choice and utilization directly influence facility revenue, creating a positive feedback loop that enhances services.
MomCare demonstrates the potential of digital health financing, targeted subsidies, and value-based care within government systems without creating parallel infrastructure. It aligns with the WHO Digital Health Strategy, emphasizing user-centered design and data-driven decision-making. By improving maternal health access for disadvantaged women in resource-limited settings, the project contributes to SDGs 3 and 5.
The path forward is clear: with collective effort and unwavering commitment, Zanzibar can build a maternal health system that ensures no mother is left behind. MomCare provides the blueprint, and now it's up to all stakeholders to make this vision a lasting reality.
