Over more than a decade, American pediatrician Dr. Stephen Swanson and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team at Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) transformed the hospital's NICU to offer ​amongst the highest level of care available in Tanzania, with survival rates rarely seen in East Africa. 

His team of ALMC Tanzanian doctors and NICU nurses became highly sought after as educators and healthcare workers in neonatology, demonstrating that small, premature infants weighing as little as 650 grams (1.4 pounds) could routinely survive and thrive in a low-income African NICU.

His team has taken an innovative approach that focuses on education and training that is resource and setting appropriate. They have assisted multiple hospitals in East Africa in the establishment and advancement of their NICUs.

Dr. Swanson and his team found that using this approach can achieve a high survival rate among critically ill and preterm neonates in limited income environments without the use of expensive, advanced - skill technologies like mechanical ventilators. 

Using this approach, the ALMC NICU team in Arusha improved the survival rate of the babies in their NICU from 77% in 2014 to 92% in 2021. 

​Survival of preterm babies weighing <1000 grams (2.2lbs) and at least 26 weeks gestation increased by 4-fold to 85%. 

A research paper was published in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics detailing the approach and outcomes