tanzania
stats
- 26%: rate of women who have access to contraceptives, according to Tanzanian President Jakata Kikwete
- 23 women die every day from birth-related complications in Tanzania
access to family planning & contraceptives
- National Family Planning Costed Implementation Program (NFPCIP): launched in 2010 with 5 core areas: contraceptive commodities & logistics, capacity building, service delivery, health systems management, and advocacy.
- The goal of the NFPCIP is to increase access to family planning methods for all women of reproductive age.
- By investing in family planning services, Tanzania hopes to promote economic and social development, as well as improve women and children's health.
- Click here for the full National Family Planning Costed Implementation Program report
- Many women's rights groups have praised the efforts of the Tanzanian government, including the NFCIP, to address the health and reproductive concerns of women.
- Advance Family Planning (AFP): a 3 year project, partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that is aiming to achieve universal access to reproductive health in three developing countries (Tanzania, Uganda, & Indonesia).
- This project "focuses on providing policy makers with evidence on why family planning is a sound investment with dividends in terms of health, socio-economic development, and the environment."
- Although AFP views family planning on a larger scale than just an issue of women's rights, this project functions on the basic idea that reproductive rights are inalienable human rights.
abortion
- Tanzania ratified the Maputo Protocol in 2007, which "requires the government to ensure access to safe and legal abortion in cases of rape, incest, and endangerment to a woman’s life, physical health, or mental health."
- "There is no comprehensive government policy in mainland Tanzania pertaining to the delivery of safe abortion services under the law. There also do not appear to be hospital-level policies on abortion in Tanzania." (Center for Reproductive Rights)
- Contradicting and unclear laws and policies regarding abortion have led women to resort to illegal abortions rather than expressing their "fundamental right to live" (as stated in the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania).
- A Technical Guide to Understanding the Legal and Policy Framework on Termination of Pregnancy in Mainland Tanzania. Center for Reproductive Rights, 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://reproductiverights.org/sites/ crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/ crr_TZ_Briefing_Paper.PDF>.
- JK Hailed for Improving Women, Children's Health. IPP Media, 2 May 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=28685http://www.jhuccp.org/ whatwedo/regions/africa/tanzania>.
- Leopold, Evelyn. Tanzania Aims to Save Women in Childbirth but Talks Little of Contraception and Safe Abortion. Huffington Post, 3 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evelyn-leopold/tanzania-maternal-mortality_b_ 1934480.html>.