Safer Births
Our goal: A world where all births are safe
A Global Research and Development Collaboration for Saving Lives at Birth
Established in 2012 at Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania, the Safer Births Consortium has become the world's most extensive research and development program for birth asphyxia.
The collaboration has resulted in new training and clinical innovations, in addition to more than 150 peer-reviewed papers.
Safer Births Innovations
As a result of the Safer Births research, four innovative tools were made to enable health workers to make time-critical lifesaving decisions on the spot. Safer Births Innovations is a collection of both training and clinical tools to ultimately help prevent and treat the leading causes of newborn and maternal deaths.
Moyo
Fetal Heart Rate Monitor
Upright
Bag Mask Ventilator, with/without PEEP
NeoBeat
Newborn Heart Rate Meter
NeoNatalie Live
Newborn Ventilation Trainer
Safer Births Bundle of Care
The Safer Births Bundle of Care is an evidence-based program that has emerged from the longstanding development and research collaboration - and has now been proven to effectively reduce newborn and maternal deaths, when implemented in Tanzania.
It consists of the original Safer Births innovations, plus selected clinical innovations, training innovations, and, critically, a set of solutions around continuous quality improvement and sustainability.
The solutions in the Safer Births Bundle of Care are provided by LGH together with key partners.
Clinical Innovations
Clinical Innovations
Fast and reliable fetal and newborn heart rate monitoring, efficient bag-mask ventilation and improved maternal care.
Training Innovations
Training Innovations
In-service simulation training for helping mothers and newborns survive.
Continuous QI
Continuous Quality Improvement
Data collection and analysis is a key component of the program, allowing for continuous quality improvement which is essential to increase newborn and maternal survival.
Sustainability
Sustainability
Supported by strong MoH ownership, regular mentorship, supportive supervision and local facilitators trained in simulation methodology.
Remarkable Reductions in Newborn and Maternal Deaths
In 2025, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study from across the 5 regions with the highest maternal and newborn mortality in Tanzania.
The study showed a 40% reduction in early newborn deaths and a remarkable 75% reduction in maternal deaths after implementation of the Safer Births Bundle of Care program in 30 hospitals. The data was collected between March 2021 and December 2023, with approximately 300,000 mother-baby pairs recorded during the study period.
The Safer Births program first received funding from Global Financing Facility (a part of the World Bank) in 2019 to scale up Safer Births Bundle of Care to 30 hospitals divided over 5 regions in Tanzania. The program continued to show remarkable impact and cost-efficiency and received a further USD 8.5m in 2023 for the scale up to 150+ health facilities. The program is set for national expansion in Tanzania, and beyond to other countries facing high levels of maternal and newborn mortality.
An Update on Our Progress
The Safer Births Bundle of Care update from March 2025 gives a comprehensive overview of the program's components, summarizes the published remarkable results and highlights key program success factors.
Reducing Maternal Deaths
The Safer Births Bundle of Care program trains healthcare professionals to efficiently deal with postpartum hemoorhage - the leading cause of maternal mortality - and is shown to reduce maternal deaths by 75%.