‘Reproductive health education vital’

ABELA MSIKULA

UN Women Executive Director, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has urged the Tanzanian government to intensify reproductive health education to teenagers, saying for the country to move forward, it must have a big portion of the population that can cater for itself in many fields.

She said that preventing unexpected pregnancies and early marriages were among the techniques for having a manageable population in any country; hence economic and social development for individuals and the nation at large.

The call was made recently in Dar es Salaam at a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) fighters’ meeting organised by Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), stressing that: “Reproductive health education has numerous benefits as it advises teenagers how and when to have children and at what interval.

The focus should be on less and not more children, she said, adding that through this approach, the country would automatically have a manageable population to take care of. Controllable population, according to her, would facilitate attainment of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goal Number Five which stresses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

The director asked the activists to document all the achievements they had attained in the war against GBV and challenges they faced.

Their sentiments would then be discussed during the next (2020) Beijing Declaration evaluation’s meeting, for further action, she explained.

Earlier, the TGNP Executive Director, Ms Lilian Liundi, sketched challenges activists had been facing, especially financial constraints and lack of capacity to strength the movement in the anti-GBV mission.

She said there should also be means to document all women’s success stories across the world, to enable others learn from their predecessors.

They would also know how to confront all possible barriers that block equality in the society.

“Denial of the right for property ownership, especially land, is among serious barriers for women’s development.

Again, as my colleagues have already said, early marriage and pregnancies are also challenging since the situation denies the right of education to our young girls.

“There are so many gender based issues which need collective efforts in term of solidarity and financial support to implement various programmes, including public awareness campaigns,” she said.

The Executive for Women Fund Tanzania (WFT) Ms Mary Rusimbi, chipped in, pointing out that to make things move, sponsors should accept the request of releasing long-term funds to fast track attainment of all anti-GBV initiatives.

abeShe proposed replacement of the current five-year fund release schedule for sponsorships, with an annual cycle, saying that short term support slowed down progress.