A region in Tanzania that focused on improving obstetric care services potentially averted an estimated 2,100 maternal deaths between 2011–2018, according to data released today by the CDC Foundation. The data include the results of treatment provided by all emergency obstetric care facilities in the Kigoma Region, where maternal deaths were among the highest in Tanzania, a nation which has the sixth highest number of maternal deaths in the world. 

To provide standardized tobacco use data and track key tobacco control measures, Bloomberg Philanthropies is providing the CDC Foundation with a two-year, $14 million grant that will enable CDC, in partnership with the World Health Organization, to conduct repeat tobacco usage surveys in 11 countries to measure tobacco control progress.

The Government of Turkey today announced that substantially fewer Turkish adult citizens smoked cigarettes in 2012 versus 2008. In its announcement, the Turkish government cited results from its second round of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). The survey showed that 14.8 million people or 27.1 percent of the Turkish population indicated that they smoked in 2012 versus 16 million people or 31.2 percent of the population in 2008. This work was made possible by a grant to the CDC Foundation from Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.

Michael R. Bloomberg announced today that he will commit an additional $220 million to fight tobacco use around the world through the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use.  The CDC Foundation is one of five partner organizations involved in the Initiative.