Paper short abstract:

Maternal health care has been a focal point in determining a country's Primary Health Care situation. This paper analyses how the Tanzanian government planned maternal health immediately after independence.

Paper long abstract:

Maternal Health and Policy Planning in Post-Colonial Tanzania, 1961-1967.

For Tanzania, the period immediately after independence was that of intense planning. This period became important to the country’s future-making process. The first president and the leader of TANU, Nyerere, promised to provide to the people what was “denied” by the colonialist. He promised to fight three enemies; poverty, ignorance and disease. Health, therefore, became an important aspect of the Tanzanian development agenda. On the one hand, planning health was characterised by the euphoria of self-determination but on the other hand, it was a rugged terrain relying heavily on colonial legacies, full of trials, errors and fears especially because the country had only a few doctors at independence and the health infrastructure was also in bad shape. In 1967, Tanzania adopted Ujamaa which became the yardstick of planning in Tanzania. This paper seeks to analyse maternal health and policy planning in Tanzania immediately after independence, the role of TANU, before the official adoption of Ujamaa in Tanzania in general and Kilombero District in particular.

Keywords: TANU, Ujamaa, Maternal Health, policy, planning.