Health Minister Mwalimu releases study report on sexual and reproductive rights reporting in Tanzania

TANZANIA— The Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA), has released a baseline survey report on the role the country’s media plays in advancing Sexual & Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR)topics for women and girls.

The TAMWA survey report amply titled “Media Advancing Rural & Urban Women and Girls in Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) In Tanzania”, shows how the media reports news on rural and urban women and girls in reproductive health rights in Tanzania.

The study had the purpose of enriching and empowering the skills of media practitioners in promoting the results of reproductive health and gender rights in this country.

However, the study revealed that 125 journalists lacked knowledge of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), and 85% of media outlets do not have dedicated programs for Maternal Health issues unless there is specific funding.

Moreover, the media outlets noted the lack of relevant knowledge to report or deal with controversial content in the search for data from researchers.

The Director of TAMWA, Rose Ruben said that in this study, TAMWA collected, analyzed, and conducted interviews with 160 journalists, 7 researchers, and 20 media houses in Dar es Salaam.

“Among the 20 media houses used in this study, it was found that half reports political stories more and social and economic news, while the issues of Reproductive Health are not reported,” Ruben said.

Likewise, the study revealed that many journalists have not received training on Reproductive Health Rights, whereas 76 percent of those interviewed said that they have not received training while only 22 percent have received training.

“We request the Health Ministry to manage the availability of statistics of various people, including women and girls with disabilities who attend health centers, to know their number and their needs and use those statistics to provide reproductive health services according to their needs,” Ruben insisted.

The TAMWA Research Underscores Maternal and Child Health in Tanzania

Minister of Health, Ummy Mwalimu said at the unveiling that the country was on the right track in efforts to improve maternal, mother, and child health.

Tanzania’s Minister Mwalimu declared that the country is making significant strides in improving maternal and child health.

She underscored that Tanzania has committed to various international agreements aimed at enhancing maternal and child health and has integrated these issues into all its plans, including the Third Five-Year Development Plan and the Fifth Strategic Plan for the Health Sector.

Minister Mwalimu noted that there was a 47 percent reduction of the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) between 1990 and 2012 (870 and 232 deaths per 100,000 live births respectively).

Consequently, Tanzania did not make sufficient progress to attain its Millenium Development Goal of reducing MMR to 193 per 100,000 live births.

Unfortunately, previous gains were being eroded as the MMR increased to 556 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

The new study illustrated that there were broad gaps in births assisted by skilled health professionals in rural and urban areas (55 percent and 87 percent respectively) and regions (96 percent in Kilimanjaro and 95 percent in Dar es Salaam to 42 percent in Simiyu).

The percentage of women (20–24 years) who have given birth or are pregnant with their first child by the age of 18 has increased from 23 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2015.

Minister Mwalimu confirmed that her ministry included maternal and child health issues in all its plans, starting from the Third Five-Year Development Plan (2021/2022 – 2024/2025) and the Fifth Strategic Plan for the Health Sector (2021/2022 – 2024/2025).

Reproductive healthcare and education are inadequate.

According to the research finding, adolescent sexual and reproductive healthcare is inadequate – teens and young people report that confidentiality is often not respected, and services are expensive and not youth-friendly.

Minister Mwalimu however assured that the ministry has continued to ensure that reproductive health rights are available throughout the country, including purchasing and distributing contraceptive products.

“For example, in the period from July 2022 to March 2023, the government bought and distributed 2,538,247 contraceptive pills, equal to 89 percent of the target, 2,564,691 doses of Depo-Provera contraceptive injections, equal to 94 percent of the target, and 552,494 implants, which is equal to 81 percent of the target,” added the minister.

The Health Minister insisted that the government would guarantee the availability of reproductive health rights across the country, with remarkable efforts in the distribution of contraceptive products.

Unfortunately, she noted that still a lot of work needed to be done to strengthen the availability of Reproductive Health Information and Services, especially for young people.

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