WLF Tanzania
Member
- Oct 9, 2014
- 38
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*Trained community health workers working with Thamini Uhai (Value Life) campaign to promote the benefits of family planning*
(16 June 2015, Dar es Salaam and New York) – A news conference in Kigoma today highlighted the vital role of community health workers in encouraging couples to use family planning. Attendees at the event, hosted by Kigoma's Regional Medical Officer and World Lung Foundation, heard that 20 community health workers have been trained to raise awareness of the longer-term benefits of family planning within their communities.
This initiative is part of a multi-channel communication campaign, developed and implemented by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Engender Health and World Lung Foundation (WLF) under the Thamini Uhai (Value Life) brand.
These community health workers will play an important role in reducing unmet family planning needs by connecting potential service users with health facilities in the region.
Commenting on the campaign, Kigoma Regional Medical Officer Dr Leonard Subi said, "Community health workers are a vital part of health campaigns like Thamini Uhai. They are able to link clients in the community who need to access health services, like family planning, with workers in health facilities who provide those services."
"Of course, the success of this campaign will also rely upon the quality of care delivered at health facilities, so the initiative engages with health care providers and undertakes facility- and community-level meetings to focus all our stakeholders on quality of care and community needs."
The new campaign, which was launched on May 25, includes radio spots, a radio drama, social media posters and a comic book in addition to community health worker outreach. Campaign messages target both men and women of reproductive age and highlight the benefits of spacing or limiting pregnancies, such as increased education and employment opportunities for women, better health for mothers and children, more effective use of family resources, and stronger communities.
Dr. Nguke Mwakatundu, Country Director – Tanzania, World Lung Foundation, said: "A lack of family planning, including birth spacing, contributes to high levels of maternal and neonatal mortality in Tanzania and limits the ability of women and families to make choices that can protect their health, their economic well-being and their life chances."
"The situation is particularly acute in Kigoma and the Western region, where women tend to give birth to more children than is the average for Tanzania and many start having children between the ages of 15 and 19."
"Well-trained and knowledgeable community health workers, who engage with potential service users on a daily basis, can help promote the benefits of family planning, help to break down misperceptions and encourage women and men, including youth, to access family planning services at health facilities."
"The resulting social, health and economic benefits could radically improve the life opportunities of current and future generations."The total fertility rate in 2010 was 7.1 for women in the Western zone, including Kigoma, which means that on average each woman has 7.1 children. The rate is notably higher than the Tanzania national average of 5.4 children and a global average of 2.5 children. In the Western zone 30% of women age 15-19 have begun childbearing, compared with just 16% in the Northern zone.
According to the Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2010, 25% of married women in Tanzania and as many as 41% of married women in Kigoma have an unmet need for contraception - that is, they do not want to become pregnant (for childbirth spacing or limiting reasons) but are not using family planning methods.
A further 34% of married women in Tanzania, but only 25% of married women in Kigoma, do not want to become pregnant and are using family planning methods to avoid unplanned pregnancy. These data show that there is scope to increase the use of family planning in Kigoma.
Barriers include: social, religious and cultural attitudes and beliefs; a lack of knowledge about the benefits of contraception; misperceptions of side effects of contraceptive methods; and unmet need for modern contraceptives among adolescents, which contributes to high fertility, unintended pregnancies and complications at birth. Service delivery barriers include a lack of adequate resources to meet the requirements for contraceptive commodities, equipment and supplies.
Family planning is a key strategy to promote social and economic development and to improve the health of women and children in Tanzania. The National Road Map Strategic Plan to Accelerate Reduction of Maternal, Newborn and Child Deaths in Tanzania, 2008–2015 (Sharpened One Plan) had set a goal to increase the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) from 27%1 to 60% by 2015.
Increased use of family planning was recognized as having great potential to contribute to the Sharpened One Plan target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) from 578 to 193 per 100,000 live births by 2015. This new phase of the Thamini Uhai campaign aims to support these objectives.
To find out more about the Thamini Uhai initiative, follow the links below:
Thamini Uhai, okoa mjamzito na mtoto
Kampeni mpya yazinduliwa Kigoma
WLF yazindua kampeni ya kuhamasisha uzazi wa mpango