Materials by Country :
Tanzania
Through the RESPOND Tanzania Project, RESPOND worked to integrate services for gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against children into supported health care facilities in Iringa and Njombe regions between 2013 and 2014. RESPOND also used the Men As Partners® approach to address gender norms that lead to GBV and to inadequacies in the health system’s response to GBV survivors. RESPOND also improved contraceptive security in Tanzania by introducing the COPE® for Contraceptive Security tool, first in two districts and then more widely.
Improving and Sustaining Contraceptive Security in Tanzania (Project Brief No. 20)
For contraceptive security to exist (i.e., when people are able to choose, obtain, and use the contraceptive methods and services they desire from among a full range of methods), three basic elements are needed at a service delivery point: contraceptives themselves; necessary medical equipment, instruments, and supplies; and trained staff. EngenderHealth’s COPE® for Contraceptive Security was tested in Newala and Meru districts in Tanzania, to document its impact on districts’ and facilities’ capacity to forecast, budget, requisition, and manage their inventory and to test the tool’s effectiveness in increasing access to all family planning methods. The tool helped facility staff to identify and resolve challenges to contraceptive security. Its use both increased contraceptive availability at the participating facilities and boosted providers’ and clients’ confidence that methods would be available.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.3 MB)
Using a Quality Improvement Approach to Improve Contraceptive Security in Tanzania (Project Brief No. 14)
The Tanzanian health ministry has made great strides toward achieving contraceptive security at the national and regional levels, but contraceptive security is weaker at lower-level health facilities, due to stock-outs of contraceptives and their related supplies, as well as human resource constraints. RESPOND developed a variation of EngenderHealth’s COPE® tools and approach focused on contraceptive security, with self-assessment guides and facility checklists to guide facility staff in thinking through all of the necessary elements to support contraceptive security. An assessment showed that COPE for Contraceptive Security was an effective and low-resource intervention to mobilize facility staff to identify and to begin to resolve challenges to contraceptive security.
Available in
English (PDF, 3.4 MB)
Promoting Hormonal Implants within a Range of Long-Acting and Permanent Methods: The Tanzania Experience (Project Brief No. 1)
One of the challenges to increasing the availability of implants has been ensuring sufficient commodities to meet demand—an issue that many family planning programs face. EngenderHealth supported the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in introducing and expanding access to long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs), focusing specifically on hormonal implants. Implant use has increased steadily in Tanzania since 2004, and among LA/PMs, implants have become the method with the largest uptake. These results demonstrate the positive effect of expanding services to lower- level facilities and the importance of implementing task sharing. During this process of expansion, nurse practitioners have become the primary providers of implants in Tanzania.
Available in
English (PDF, 4.2 MB)
Fragile, Threatened, and Still Urgently Needed: Family Planning Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa
Using the latest evidence about trends in modern contraceptive use, fertility, unmet need, urbanization, and poverty in eight key African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), this commentary discusses the ongoing threats to family planning programs from such factors as HIV and AIDS, inadequacy of the health care workforce, health sector reform, and decreased funding. The article underscores the continuing validity of the health, equity, demographic, and development rationales for increased support to organized family planning programs, many of which are experiencing stagnation or falloff in performance, and also summarizes what service approaches and interventions have been found to be most efficacious in increasing access to such services. Studies in Family Planning, Volume 40, Number 2, June 2009, pages 147-154.
Available online in
English
Mobile Outreach Services for Family Planning in Tanzania: An Overview of Financial Costs (Report No. 14)
Mobile outreach is a vital service delivery approach to expand access to long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs), but only limited information is available on the cost efficiency of different outreach service models. The RESPOND Project, through its partner FHI 360, conducted an analysis of the financial costs for different models of mobile family planning services in Tanzania. Limitations in the availability and consistency of data precluded the calculation of representative cost estimates for two models; therefore, this report presents results of the analysis only for a model implemented by Marie Stopes Tanzania. Over a five-month period, six MST teams provided LA/PMs to more than 14,000 women, producing an estimated 76,000 couple-years of protection (CYPs). The average cost per LA/PM acceptor was US $22; the average cost per CYP was about US $4. Labor was the single largest cost component, closely followed by the costs of contraceptives and expendable supplies. Individual expeditions served anywhere from 171 to 829 clients.
Available in
English (PDF, 1.8 MB)
Approaches to Mobile Outreach Services for Family Planning: A Descriptive Inquiry in Malawi, Nepal, and Tanzania (Report No. 13)
Mobile outreach services for family planning are widely used in the global South to reach underserved populations, yet documentation on them is sparse. Between 2010 and 2012, The RESPOND Project studied mobile outreach services in Malawi, Nepal, and Tanzania. Observations at 20 facilities and interviews with more than 150 providers, clients, managers, and policymakers led to several key findings: Program managers and staff must ensure quality of care, even under difficult circumstances; attention must be paid to ensuring the availability of contraceptives, equipment, and expendable supplies; supervision is an important component of mobile outreach; mobile services offer opportunities for on-the-job training, coaching, and skills improvement for new staff and for those needing refresher training; and demand creation efforts (particularly by community health workers) are important for reaching underserved populations.
Available in
English (PDF, 2 MB)
Use of COPE® Tool for Contraceptive Security in Tanzania
International Conference on Family Planning, November 12-15, 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Panel: Getting Down to Business: the Critical Steps to Getting Shelves Stocked) (led by RHSC)
Available in
English (PDF, 5 MB)
COPE for Contraceptive Security
Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition 13th Meeting, October 4-5, 2012, Paris, France
Available in
English (PDF, 4.1 MB)
Integration of FP into Decentralized Comprehensive Postabortion Care (cPAC) Services: A case study of Tanzania
FP-MNCH-Nutrition Integration Technical Consultation, March 30, 2011
Available in
English (PDF, 508 KB)