Our Stories

In Zanzibar, youth comprise a significant number of the population. 35.3% of the population is between the ages of 15 and 35. They face serious challenges, including unemployment, poverty, and little participation in governance and political processes. Zanzibar Fighting Against Youth Challenges Organization (ZAFAYCO) a youth-led civil society organization, established in 2013 is at the forefront of addressing challenges for youth in the isles.

On September 23, 2022, Tanzania launched the Comprehensive Council Social Welfare Operational Planning Guideline (CCSWOPG), which provides guidance and framework for integrated efforts from the Tanzanian Government, development partners, and other social welfare stakeholders. The guideline stresses participatory and effective use of social welfare data generated in the council to develop an evidence-based comprehensive council social welfare plan.

Today, the U.S government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the government of Tanzania, launched a two-year $1.2 million activity aimed to support positive youth engagement and strengthen their participation in local governance processes.

In a close-out ceremony, the Ministry of Health (MOH) Zanzibar’s Director of Preventative Services, Dr. Ali Nyanga, thanked PMI and PMI VectorLink Tanzania for three successful IRS campaigns that achieved coverage rates above 90 percent, as well as for contributions to strengthening the “sustained capacity and ability of ZAMEP staff to handle IRS.”

A timely deployment of additional Human Resources for Health (HRH) at Nyasho Health Centre in Musoma Municipality Mara Region since the final quarter of the year 2020, brought a huge relief to expectant mothers who were running short of quality maternal services. The deployment of an additional four midwives made a huge difference in maternal health services.

Just a little over one year ago, if you walked into the Katoro Health Center you would have been welcomed by long lines of expectant mothers awaiting service, sadness, and worry written all over their faces. The facility was staffed with very few health care workers to adequately serve the growing number of patients especially in the reproductive and child health department.

On a plain in Tanzania’s northern region, situated between Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley, Yasinta sits and surveys the mountainous vista from the doorway of her boma, a traditional Maasai home, constructed of branches, mud, and dung. The middle-aged mother lives with her husband, children, and other relatives in a compound of seven bomas that sit together behind a fence of thorny bushes.

Tanzania has a strong legal framework for providing family planning services and has scaled up and strengthened access to contraceptives, but some barriers persist regarding widespread access. As a community ambassador for family planning services in Tabora, Theresia Mgulu combats myths and taboos as a primary aspect of her volunteer job. 

Agnes has an adolescent son who is now living with relatives in Moshi, where he is a student. Her oldest daughter, Neema, 15, lives with her along with two younger daughters, an 8-year-old and a 1-year-old. Neema’s father suffered from alcoholism and left the family, subsequently passing away—leaving Agnes as both breadwinner and caretaker. She has since found another partner, but he, too, lacks financial resources.

Isabella Nyamizi, a medical doctor and project assistant working with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) got out of her car as the road conditions worsened. She began the walk to a client’s home in Damwelu, a village in central Tanzania. Nyamizi was accompanied by community health worker Magreth Ndudumka; village chairperson Elias Charles; and John Mwendaa, MD, a fellow physician from the nearby Itigi Health Center. Nyamizi primarily works to identify and treat tuberculosis (TB) patients, especially children, and connect those found with TB to treatment while providing preventative treatment to eligible children. Here in Damwelu, Nyamizi is following up on a referral for a child presumed to have TB.