UNFPA Hands Over Family Planning Commodities to Government of Tanzania
"Family planning is a human right. Access to family planning is not a privilege, but a right that is essential to the health and well-being of all women and adolescents" Mark Bryan Schreiner, UNFPA Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania.
Dar es Salaam - UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency handed over US$ 9,519,235 million worth of supplies of contraceptives and other life-saving maternal health commodities for the Government of Tanzania through the Ministry of Health. The supplies are procured with support from UNFPA Supplies and the five-year programme titled “Universal Access to Family Planning: Reaching Women, Girls, and Marginalized Populations through Innovative Approaches”, implemented by UNFPA Tanzania with generous financial support from UK International Development.
September 26th has been designated World Contraception Day to bring focus to the rights of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children. This is also captured in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under target 3.7 which aims to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services, including family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes by 2030.
Family planning is the information, means and methods that allow individuals to decide if and when to have children. This includes a wide range of contraceptives – including pills, implants, intrauterine devices, surgical procedures that limit fertility, and barrier methods such as condoms – as well as non-invasive methods such as the calendar method and abstinence. Family planning also includes information about how to become pregnant when it is desirable, as well as treatment of infertility.
UNFPA supports many aspects of voluntary family planning, including procuring contraceptives, training health professionals to accurately and sensitively counsel individuals about their family planning options, and promoting comprehensive sexuality education in schools. UNFPA never promotes abortion as a form of family planning. The life-saving maternal health commodities, including contraceptives provide sufficient modern contraceptives to cover the needs of 3 million couples for one year. They are estimated to prevent an estimated 1,473,532 unintended pregnancies, 1,958 maternal deaths, and 400,620 unsafe abortions and save GBP 112,909,979 dollars in direct healthcare costs.
Since 2016, to further advance access to family planning for young people, women and men throughout the United Republic of Tanzania UNFPA has also supported the training of 3,582 service providers on supply chain management to improve their capacity to estimate supply needs and ensure safe storage and delivery of the maternal health commodities to health facilities and dispensaries in both Mainland and Zanzibar. Support has also been provided to the Government to coordinate efforts to improve access, gender responsiveness and quality of services among Development Partners and other stakeholders.
“With the gender and rights-based approach, we aim to coordinate family planning in an integrated manner and develop capacity for reproductive health and other health services,” said Dr. Ahmed Makuwani, Director of Reproductive Newborn and Child Health, Ministry of Health, Tanzania. He added: “we appreciate the support of UNFPA and UK Aid in the procurement of reproductive health commodities, for family planning and as partners in our efforts to mobilize resources for the implementation of reproductive newborn and child health services.”
Access to contraceptive information is central to achieving gender equality. When women and couples are empowered to plan whether and when to have children, and how many, women are better enabled to complete their education; women’s autonomy within their households is increased; and their earning power is improved. This strengthens their economic security and well-being and that of their families. Cumulatively, these benefits contribute to poverty reduction and global development. These benefits were recognized in the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), which called for “the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice.” This agreement lays the foundation for much of UNFPA’s work.
During the event, UNFPA Representative, Mr. Mark Bryan Schreiner recognized the presence of the British High Commission, Development Director in Tanzania, Ms. Kemi Williams and acknowledged the UK Aid’s longstanding and generous support to UNFPA Supplies and the UNFPA Tanzania Country Office. The UK is committed to supporting voluntary family planning and enabling people to access quality sexual and reproductive health services. Provision of Family Planning commodities and ensuring access to all women regardless of their location, wealth or education status is vital. This in turn unlocks economic prosperity at a national level supporting the emergence of strong economies and societies. The UK is proud to be contributing to supporting Tanzania’s economic development in various ways including through provision of family planning services.
“The impact of family planning is beyond health. It is multisectoral and even intergenerational. It is well documented that improved child health and nutrition have the potential to positively influence academic performance and behaviors. In turn, education is a key determinant of the uptake and consistency in the use of family planning services”. Ms. Kemi Williams, Development Director, British High Commission in Tanzania.
UNFPA has been a long-term partner of the Ministry of Health’s family planning programme. In this event, UNFPA reaffirmed its commitment to to support the Ministry of Health to further strengthen and support the strengthening of the national health system, including through training of health care providers, procurement of equipment and supplies, and support for quality service delivery, as critical components of the national efforts to reduce maternal mortality and unmet need for family planning and improve gender equality for all people of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Mr. Mark Bryan Schreiner, Representative, UNFPA, United Republic of Tanzania said, “The reproductive health supplies handed over by UNFPA to the Government of Tanzania are life-saving maternal health commodities, including modern contraceptives. These commodities are tools for individuals to have decision-making power over their own reproductive health, including if and when they choose to have children. These supplies provide means of personal empowerment, especially for women and girls.”
The UK approved a £55million programme (2017 -2024) to support comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services in Tanzania. The programme has two main components
(i) commodities procurement through UNFPA and
ii) service provision through Engender Health and Marie Stop Tanzania.
Over the past four years of implementation, the programme has reached half a million new clients with a family planning method of their choice, provided over 3.4 million couple years of protection (CYPs) to new and returning clients, and helped prevent millions of unintended pregnancies and maternal deaths.
The contraceptives and maternal health commodities were received by the Ministry of Health, Director of Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health, Dr. Ahmed Makuwani at the Medical Stores Department head quarters in Dar Es Salaam.
-
EDITORIAL NOTE:
UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. We promote gender equality and empower women, girls and young people to take control of their bodies and their futures. We work with partners to provide access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services. Our goal is ending unmet need for family planning, preventable maternal death, and gender-based violence and harmful practices including child marriage and female genital mutilation by 2030.
Our Motto is Ensuring Rights and Choices for all
The goal of UNFPA is to ensure sexual and reproductive rights and choices for all, especially women and young people, so that they can access high-quality sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education. All of our work is grounded in human rights and respect for culture. Our work on their behalf is informed by an understanding of population dynamics, human rights and cultural sensitivities.
OUR 3 TRANSFORMATIVE RESULTS
In 2018, UNFPA launched efforts to achieve three transformative results, also known as the three zeros, by 2030:
Ending unmet need for family planning
Zero unmet need for family planning. We are the world’s single-largest provider of donated contraceptives to developing countries, and our programmes increase the availability of contraceptives and dismantle barriers to services.
Ending preventable maternal death
Zero preventable maternal deaths. We help strengthen health systems, train and educate health workers and midwives, and improve access to a full range of reproductive health services. Our support for women’s maternal health is especially significant in 32 countries with the highest rates of maternal mortality and morbidity.
Ending gender-based violence and harmful practices
Zero gender-based violence and harmful practices. We work with policymakers, justice systems and health systems and engage men and boys to advance gender equality. We protect survivors of gender-based violence by providing a combination of essential services, including in humanitarian crises.
Follow UNFPA Tanzania on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and visit our website.
About Ministry of Health Medical Stores Department
The Medical Stores Department (MSD) is an autonomous department under the Government of Tanzania Ministry of Health, Community Development, Elderly and Children. The Department is responsible to develop, maintain and manage an efficient and cost effective logistics system of Procurement, Storage and Distribution of approved essential medicines and medical supplies for public health facilities. The Mission of the department is to make available, at all times, medicines and medical supplies acceptable quality at affordable prices to all Tanzanians.
For further information please contact:
Warren Bright,
Communications Analyst,
United Nations Population Fund
Tanzania,
Email: bwarren@unfpa.org,
Mobile: +255 764 43 44 45
