Increase budget on family planning, maternal health`

National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda (R) greets lawmakers at parliamentary grounds in Dodoma yesterday, just before the House resumed for the marathon Budget meeting. (Photo: Omar Fungo)

 Prominent health experts have called on members of Parliament to increase budget on family health in order to avoid unnecessary maternal deaths and enable meet social needs.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam over weekend, Ulla Muller said the Parliament session is approaching and many people want to hear what the government has done in health sector particularly on family planning.

“It is a time of many expectations from Tanzanians especially the poor community members who rely on their legislators to advocate for the government to meet their social needs”, she said.

Muller who is also Country Director of Marie Stopes Tanzania, urged MPs to think about members of community particularly women who loose their lives unnecessarily due to avoidable complications.

“Think about mothers, daughters, and sisters, their and ours who are dying from easily preventable causes,” she said.

She emphasized that Parliamentarians need to support a family planning budget at all levels to make sure that there is enough resources to cover contraceptives supplies, train service providers and reach remote rural women.

Muller hailed President Jakaya Kikwete, United States International Aid Agency (USAID) and its United Kingdom counterpart (UKAID) for their tireless efforts to make sure that the family health is prioritized so that the number of deaths is reduced.

Already the government has committed to reach 60 percent of women to access and use family planning services by the year 2025.Currently it is estimated that only 27 percent of women access such services countrywide.

“This can only be achieved with a collective effort and government has to invest in family planning, we have high hopes that the promise will be attained”, she noted.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, another expert said the government should raise its health budget particularly on family planning so as to reduce depending from donors.

Today the majority of family planning budget depends on donor funding by 75 percent, while central government contribute 25 percent this is not health, he said.

He also urged district councils to start allocate substantial amount of budget into family planning.

“Many of the district councils do not allocate any amount from own resources, which is very dangerous in case donors suspend their support” he alerted.

In a move to support President’s pledge, Marie stopes Tanzania has committed to reach 1.2million family planning users by 2020 through its rural outreach mobile services and clinical networks.