Skip to main content
Public HealthIncreasing Access to Reproductive Health Care

Increasing Access to Reproductive Health Care

Almost 300,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth every year — for every maternal death at least another 20 women suffer injury or illness. Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with more than half in sub-Saharan Africa. Women and girls who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are often prevented from using modern contraception by lack of information, supplies and services, or by opposition from partners and others. Between 2015 and 2019, 48% of global pregnancies were unintended, and 43.8 million abortions occur each year — nearly half of them unsafe. Bloomberg Philanthropies works to address these problems by providing and advocating for access to quality reproductive health services.

Maternal Health in Tanzania

Bloomberg Philanthropies partnered with the Government of Tanzania to support the implementation of a new model that sought to increase access to emergency obstetric and reproductive health care in Kigoma region. In 2019, the Tanzanian government took over the program and prepared to replicate the model across other parts of the country where maternal mortality was high.

Read more

 

By building operating rooms and training more health care workers, the Maternal Health program in Tanzania has expanded the coverage of maternal health and brought life-saving emergency obstetric care to the women who need it most.
By building operating rooms and training more health care workers, the Maternal Health program in Tanzania has expanded the coverage of maternal health and brought life-saving emergency obstetric care to the women who need it most.

Supporting Local Advocates

Bloomberg Philanthropies was part of Family Planning 2020, now Family Planning 2030, a global partnership that supports the rights of women and girls to make their own independent decisions about having children.

Read more

 

Ambulance outside of a Bloomberg Philanthropies supported Maternal Health facility in Tanzania.
Ambulance outside of a Bloomberg Philanthropies supported Maternal Health facility in Tanzania.

Top photo: Women in a Bloomberg Philanthropies supported health center’s maternity ward in Tanzania.

Disclaimer