Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. Family planning is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and is a key factor in reducing poverty. Yet in developing regions, more than 200 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities. This threatens their ability to build a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.
Increasing availability and access to quality family planning services, including counselling and contraceptives, and addressing the unmet need for family planning among individuals and couples is at the core of UNFPA’s mandate in Tanzania as part of an integrated approach to sexual and reproductive health services. We support government to implement national policies, guidelines, protocols and strategies that deliver integrated, equitable and high-quality voluntary family planning services, particularly for vulnerable adolescents and young people, and populations in underserved and humanitarian settings.
We prioritize the integration of family planning services into maternal health and HIV prevention, so that information and contraceptives are readily available and accessible.
We strengthen the capacity of healthcare providers to deliver the whole range of high-quality family planning method mix. And support the delivery of equitable and age-appropriate adolescent and youth-friendly reproductive health services that integrate HIV prevention and voluntary family planning services, including for local communities and refugees in humanitarian settings.
Our support to the coordination of a national comprehensive condom programme (CCP) is also a core strategy to ensure that people at risk of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and unintended pregnancy, are motivated to use male and female condoms, have access to quality condoms, get accurate condom information and knowledge, and use condoms correctly and consistently.
We work with government and partners through the UNFPA Global Supplies programme and other resources to strengthen systems that ensure a predictable, planned and sustainable approach to securing and supplying reproductive health commodities including condoms, and medicines and equipment for family planning, maternal services and STI prevention services.
UNFPA Tanzania also supports national partners to develop strategies to improve access to reproductive health, including family planning services for marginalized and underserved populations, including adolescents and young people, through the Total Market Approach.
