Midwives' mission saves lives in Tanzania

A team of midwives from Melbourne's Frances Perry House have helped to improve health outcomes in Tanzania with a life-saving volunteer mission.

The quartet spent three weeks supporting hospitals in Arusha and surrounding regions, delivering hands-on training and much-needed resources.

Christine Murphy, Alexandra Ryan, Simone Gleeson and Megan Whittle also donated essential neonatal equipment and helped to strengthen clinical capacity working alongside local healthcare teams.

"Our goal was to support healthcare workers in Tanzania by sharing knowledge and tools that could help save lives – and we saw that happening almost immediately," Ms Ryan said.

"One day after a training session in neonatal resuscitation, a baby was successfully resuscitated using the techniques and equipment we had just introduced.

"The unit manager told us with pride and gratitude: 'We saved a baby today!'"

With support from family, colleagues and their community, the midwives fundraised for vital supplies, including 15 neonatal resuscitation kits, phototherapy lights, a fully-equipped emergency trolley, and training tools to help hospitals establish or improve special care nurseries.

They also trained more than 100 doctors and midwives across five hospitals, and received a heart-felt letter of thanks from Kaloleni Health Centre's director, Jafari Jekonia.

"They not only improved the knowledge and confidence of our staff, but also inspired a renewed commitment to excellence in newborn care," he said.

The midwives' generosity and expertise is expected to benefit generations of mothers and newborns in the East African country, but they also came home to Australia rewarded by the experience.

"We may have gone there to teach, but we learned so much more," Ms Ryan said.

"We were welcomed with generosity, hospitality and genuine kindness. We've come home with a renewed sense of purpose and a deep commitment to continue supporting our colleagues in Tanzania."

Frances Perry House is a 93-bed private hospital specialising in maternity care and women's health services.

It opened in 1970 as the private wing of the Royal Women's Hospital, where it is now co-located as an independent facility that joined the Ramsay Health Care group in 2005.

Read more: Emotional care for early pregnancy loss

Read more: Robot system makes women's surgery safer

Next On The Ground:
4/9/2025 Region's rising demand for private healthcare

Previous On The Ground:
5/8/2025 Breast cancer in pregnancy - a dreaded diagnosis