Mpango urges more efforts to control pre-mature births

Dar es Salaam. Vice President Philip Mpango has asked the Doris Mollel Foundation to invest more in providing reproductive health education that will help to deal with the increase in children born prematurely, especially in rural areas.

Likewise, he has called on religious institutions as well as citizens to give priority to the issue of helping children born prematurely so that they can reduce the deaths resulting from the condition.

Dr Mpango said that yesterday when he met with the director of the Foundation, Ms Doris Mollel, with the aim of discussing the challenges facing pre-term babies and the way forward.

“The government has continued to move health services closer to the people by building district hospitals, centers in the district and clinics in villages to continue to face the challenges of maternal and child health problems,” he said.

Dr Mpango also took that opportunity to commend the efforts made by the institution in donating medical equipment to health care centers to help children born prematurely.

For her part, Ms Mollel commended the government for its efforts to recognise the challenges that arise in the care of children born prematurely in the country and decided to donate medical equipment for those children.

“We thank the government for continuing to support the institution, especially in the agenda of the pre-term babies they have already submitted a request to extend the leave for those who give birth prematurely as well as presenting the opinion of placing the education of premature children in science lessons for primary schools and biology for secondary schools,” she said.

Ms Mollel added that the government has already allocated Sh23.36 billion in the budget of the Ministry of Health for the year 2022/23 in addition to allocating 100 rooms for vulnerable children in order to reduce the number of vulnerable children who lose their lives due to various challenges.