As part of the business forum Laerdal Global Health’s CEO, Karoline Myklebust Linde, was invited to present about the organization with a focus on the work in Tanzania.
On invitation from King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan visited Norway with a delegation of ministers and civil servants on 13th and 14th February 2024 to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic cooperation between Norway and Tanzania.
The President and her constituents attended a business forum organized by the Norwegian-African Business Association with representatives from both public and private sectors, focusing on the key sectors of energy, agriculture, health, and sustainable tourism. The aim of the trip was to explore opportunities for investment and partnership between the two countries.
While Norway's cooperation with Tanzania in the first five decades was largely development aid oriented, business and investment have become more prominent in the last decade.
As part of the businness forum Laerdal Global Health’s CEO, Karoline Myklebust Linde, was invited to present about the organization with a focus on the work in Tanazania and Safer Births Bundle of Care (SBBC). This is a program that has been developed from over 12 years of research in Tanzania. Laerdal Global Health has been a key partner in the development and implementation of SBBC, with the first phase showing promising preliminary results of over 50% reduction in maternal mortality and 45% reduction in newborn mortality. As a result of these results and further funding from the World Bank’s Global Financing Facility, the program will be scaled up throughout 2024 to reach over 152 hospitals in Tanzania, with the ambition of a full national scale up in the near future.
This was a great opportunity to highlight how investments into a project like Safer Births can create a big impact for the women and children in Tanzania . The economic growth in Tanzania has been impressive in the last two years, and there is a growing interest in investment. The President spoke of the initiatives to get more female leaders and female board members, and how these businesses perform better.
The business forum was followed by a state gala dinner hosted by King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway and attended by other members of the royal family, and parliament and government representatives including the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. This was the first Tanzanian state visit to Norway in more than sixteen years.