From Cork to Kilimanjaro: a decade of partnership in maternal and newborn health
A global challenge, unequally shared
Each year, an estimated 2.3 million newborns die within the first weeks of life. Hundreds of thousands of women also die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, the vast majority in low- and middle-income countries. Limited access to specialist care, trained personnel, and reliable health data continues to shape outcomes.
A decade ago, this was a significant challenge in Tanzania, where neonatal mortality was considerably higher than in high-income settings. Early estimates suggested that nearly five out of every hundred babies did not survive the first weeks of life.
Addressing this requires more than medical innovation alone. It depends on strengthening health systems, improving access to timely care, and ensuring that data can support both immediate decisions and longer-term planning. It was within this context that a partnership between University College Cork (UCC) and clinical and research institutions in Tanzania began to take shape.
Where the partnership began
In 2016, researchers and clinicians from the INFANT Research Centre at UCC travelled to Tanzania to explore collaboration in maternal and child health. Over the course of the visit, the team engaged with a number of potential partner sites, with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) and the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) emerging as the best mutual fit for ongoing collaboration.
This led to the establishment of a Memorandum of Understanding between UCC and the Good Samaritan Foundation, encompassing KCMC, KCRI, and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College.
From the outset, the partnership was shaped by a shared vision and a commitment to working together over the long term. Reflecting on this, Professor Blandina T. Mmbaga, Director of the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), explains:
“What has made this partnership meaningful is a shared vision of providing the best care for mothers and newborns, and a trust in working together to achieve that.”
This approach focused on adapting advances in neonatal care, diagnostics, and data systems for lower-resource settings through co-development and shared priorities, supported by knowledge exchange, skills development, and collaborative research in areas of greatest need.
Building the foundations
Early collaboration focused on strengthening newborn care at KCMC, where the smallest and most vulnerable infants faced significant challenges to survival.
Through a combination of philanthropic support, clinical collaboration, and training, the partnership introduced key improvements in care. These included the establishment and equipping of a neonatal intensive care unit, which opened in 2021, alongside essential equipment to support newborns who needed extra care in their first days of life, and training for staff in emergency and infection care. Ongoing education for nursing and medical staff was also a central part of this work.
In 2023, a dedicated 20-bed Kangaroo Mother Care unit was opened, supported through student fundraising and philanthropic contributions. This simple but effective approach enables mothers to provide continuous skin-to-skin care, improving survival for premature and low birth weight infants.
For mothers, the impact has been immediate and visible. Professor Mmbaga reflects on how this has changed care in practice:
“We have seen real improvements in how care is delivered and in outcomes for preterm babies. Now, more mothers are able to stay with their babies during care, which has helped reduce infection risk and support earlier discharge.”
These changes are felt in very real ways. More babies are surviving those first critical days, and more mothers can stay close to them during care. In the Kangaroo Mother Care unit, mothers hold their babies skin-to-skin, helping them grow stronger each day. It is a simple approach, but one that is changing outcomes and experiences for families.
These efforts have contributed to measurable improvements in outcomes, with perinatal mortality in the region declining over time, reflecting hundreds of additional newborn lives saved each year.
