Global Reach

Tanzania

Tanzania is located in East Africa and is made up of 26 regions on the Tanzania mainland and 5 on the Zanzibar islands. The population is approximately 60 million people, 64% of whom are adolescents and young people.

The modern contraceptive prevalence rate for all women ages 15 to 49 is 31.7%. The maternal mortality ratio is 524 deaths per 100,000 live births. Of women ages 15 to 49, 43.6% have experienced physical or sexual violence.

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Our Work in Tanzania

Since 1983, EngenderHealth has been working in Tanzania in partnership with the government and other organizations. Today, EngenderHealth is implementing five programs across 22 regions in mainland Tanzania and 5 regions in Zanzibar. Our programs focus primarily on family planning (FP) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), comprehensive abortion care (CAC), including postabortion care (PAC); HIV and AIDS prevention and care; and health systems strengthening—while also integrating social and behavior change communications and gender, youth, and social inclusion.

EngenderHealth, with funding from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, is working in partnership with the government to strengthen the public sector response to increasing access to comprehensive and integrated SRH services through the Scaling Up Family Planning program. This program targets Tanzania’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations—particularly young people and persons living with disabilities—with comprehensive, high-quality, inclusive, and integrated FP and SRH services. We work in eight regions across the mainland of Tanzania and the five regions of Zanzibar. From February 2020 to March 2023, the program helped 1,877,901 clients access contraceptive care. Of these, the program reached 1,433,837 clients through outreach services, such as service days, FP weeks, and integrated community outreach, 14% of whom were young people ages 10–19. In addition, 844,011 clients received GBV screening, and 25,064 received referrals for post-care services. The program also supported over 14,900 people with disabilities to adopt a contraceptive method of their choice.

Through the Expand Access to Postabortion Care program, EngenderHealth is working to expand access to PAC services in Zanzibar. We are working at the national and council levels to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity by expanding access to government-led, high-quality, and age-appropriate PAC services. We are also enhancing the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) and selected PAC champions to advocate for improving PAC services. At the national level, we are working to improve policies and coordination, developing and reviewing quality assurance and quality improvement tools, and ensuring sustained political support by facilitating government and civil society dialogues. At the council level, in collaboration with CSOs, we train champions, local leaders, and other community members to promote social acceptance of PAC .

With funding from USAID, the USAID Afya Yangu—Northern program works to improve access to household nutrition and increase the availability of health services at facilities and in communities in Tanzania’s northern zone, covering the Arusha, Manyara, Singida, Kilimanjaro, and Dodoma regions. Together with our partners, we are working to improve the provision of high-quality health services at the facility and community level, focusing on HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and family planning (FP).

EngenderHealth also worked as a partner with the Tanzanian government on three other USAID-funded Boresha Afya programs. In Boresha Afya—Lake and Western Zone, under the leadership of Jhpiego, we increased access to high-quality, respectful, client-centered SRH and maternal and obstetric care in facilities and across the health system. In Boresha Afya—North-Central Zone, under the leadership of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, EngenderHealth improved access to high-quality gender-equitable and youth-friendly FP through integration with HIV and other health services in facilities and communities. In Boresha Afya—South Zone, under the leadership of Deloitte, we delivered technical expertise in FP and HIV service integration to better serve vulnerable populations and transform gender norms.

Our global flagship Postabortion Care Family Planning (PAC-FP) program, funded by USAID, sought to develop, test, and disseminate models for increasing informed and voluntary use of postabortion FP, particularly long-acting reversible contraceptives and permanent methods. We developed a model to address key barriers to PAC-FP in service delivery.