Every year, more than 500,000 women die in pregnancy and childbirth worldwide, an estimated four million newborns die in their first four weeks of life and over 10 million children die before their fifth birthday. In sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of dying in childbirth is 50 times higher than in developed countries.

Tanzania is one of the top ten countries contributing to the majority of maternal and newborn deaths worldwide. Annually 13,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 157,000 children die under the age of five of which 45,000 are newborns. Skilled attendance during delivery is the single most important factor for survival of mother and child. In Tanzania only half of all births are attended by skilled health workers.

It is CCBRT’s mission with Baobab Maternity Hospital to provide high quality health services where women and children survive childbirth without impairment, to identify and support vulnerable mothers and newborns, and to assist with improving the quality and number of health care workers in Tanzania.