title: Maternal, newborn and child health needs, opportunities and preferred futures in Arusha and Ngorongoro: hearing women's voices.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the approaching sunset on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Tanzania continues with its final national push towards achievement of MDG #4 and MDG #5. The Mama Kwanza Socio-economic Health Initiative (MKSHI) was introduced in the hope of contributing to improving maternal, newborn, and child health in Arusha and Ngorongoro. The MKSHI project is a holistic, inter-sectoral approach to maternal, newborn, and child health which aligns with the Government of Tanzania's Vision 2025. At the project onset, a baseline assessment was conducted to launch ongoing benchmarking, monitoring, and evaluation of the project's impacts and implications. The aim of this baseline assessment was twofold. First it was to determine the state of maternal, newborn, and child health in the two project sites. Second it was to ensure that a baseline of key indicators was established as well as identification of unique indicators relevant to the populations of interest.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The baseline study was a mixed methods approach to identify maternal, newborn, and child risk factors and indicators in the two target sites. This paper focuses on the qualitative methods and findings. The qualitative component included a series of five community dialogue meetings and thirty-seven individual/dyad interviews with women, providers, and stakeholders. Initially, community meetings were held as open dialogues on maternal, newborn, and child health issues, opportunities, and preferred futures. Individual/dyad interviews were held with women, providers, and stakeholders who held unique information or experiences. Both community dialogue and interview data was analysed for themes and guiding or critical comments. Three over-arching findings emerged: What took you so long to come? How do we know what you know? and How will it change for our daughters?
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participant voices are vital in ensuring the achievement of local and global efforts and preferred futures for maternal, newborn, and child health services. This study contributes to the inclusion of women in all aspects of the planning, implementation, and delivery of maternal, newborn, and child health services in the target areas and beyond.
authors.affiliation: University of Saskatchewan, 4400 4th Avenue #100, Regina, SK, S4T 0H8, Canada. Pammla.petrucka@sasktel.net.
authors.forename: Pammla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petrucka
authors.affiliation: University of Saskatchewan, 4400 4th Avenue #100, Regina, SK, S4T 0H8, Canada. Sandra.bassendowski@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bassendowski
authors.affiliation: University of Saskatchewan, 4400 4th Avenue #100, Regina, SK, S4T 0H8, Canada. Marie.dietrich-leurer@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dietrich-Leurer
authors.affiliation: University of Saskatchewan, 4400 4th Avenue #100, Regina, SK, S4T 0H8, Canada. Cara.spence@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Cara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spence-Gress
authors.affiliation: Mama Kwanza Socio-economic Health Initiative, Arusha, Tanzania. zenath.bufuturu2000@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zenath
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Athuman
authors.affiliation: Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania. Joram.buza@nm-aist.ac.tz.
authors.forename: Joram
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Buza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D013636:Tanzania; D055815:Young Adult