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.

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 (SuFP) 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 December 2025, the program helped 3,558,049 clients access contraceptive care. Of these, the program reached 2,562,859 clients through outreach services, such as service days, FP weeks, and integrated community outreach, 18.3% of whom were young people ages 10–19. In addition, 2,043,252 clients received GBV screening, and 68,986 received referrals for post-care services. The program also supported over 30,636 people with disabilities to adopt a contraceptive method of their choice.

Three smiling girls in bright clothes in Tanzania

The Elevate Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights program, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, expands access to gender-sensitive, age-appropriate reproductive health services in Tanzania. Working with government and local partners, the program strengthens systems, challenges stigma, and increases access to postabortion and comprehensive abortion care—advancing health, rights, and equity for all.

The Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Tanzania program, funded by Shell and Equinor, will strengthen the capacity of women and youth to effectively participate in, contribute to, and benefit from economic empowerment initiatives in the Lindi region of southern Tanzania.

EngenderHealth’s Previous Work in Tanzania

With funding from USAID, the USAID Afya Yangu—Northern program worked 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 worked to improve the provision of high-quality health services at the facility and community level, focusing on HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and family planning (FP).

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 .

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.