Love Me, Parents! Impact of an Integrated National Safe Motherhood Campaign in Tanzania

Introduction/Purpose:

Wazazi Nipendeni (Love me, parents), is a national, integrated safe motherhood campaign in Tanzania encouraging pregnant women and their partners to take steps for a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery. Communication channels included radio and TV spots, billboards, posters, brochures, promotional materials and SMS. An evaluation was conducted to assess campaign impact on maternal health practices.

Methods:

Exit interviews were conducted with antenatal and post-natal clients (n=1708) in 122 purposefully selected health facilities. Clients answered items regarding campaign exposure, safe motherhood knowledge, birth planning, and safe pregnancy practices.

Results:

35.1% of respondents reported having seen or heard the campaign, with 16.5% reporting daily exposure. Those exposed were significantly more likely to be from urban areas and with higher education than those who were not exposed (p’s<.001).

Step-wise regressions showed that for post-natal women (n=868), with each additional source of messaging to which she was exposed, there was a 20% greater likelihood she delivered at a health facility, even when controlling for demographics. Also, with each additional message source, there was a 23% greater likelihood she received 2 or more doses of SP for the prevention of malaria (p<.001), even when controlling for demographics.

For both pre/post-natal women (n=1708), with each additional message source exposure, there was a 61% greater likelihood a woman slept under a mosquito net the previous night (p<.001), even when controlling for demographics.

Recommendations:

Campaign exposure seems to be associated with positive safe motherhood outcomes. More efforts are needed to increase exposure for rural audiences with lower levels of education.