Tanzania Health Summit Spotlights Safe Abortion
The Tanzania Health Summit recently hosted a high-level discussion on safe abortion and the push for legal reforms.
The forum, held after Choice Week, was attended by key health sector stakeholders including Dr. Ahmad Makuwani (the Ministry of Health’s Director of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health) and Judge Mathew Mwaimu (the Chairperson of the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance). They discussed Tanzania’s progress in implementing the Maputo Protocol which outlines the conditions for abortion.
The panel discussed Tanzania’s legal framework, specifically the sections that restrict access to abortion. Dr. Makuwani noted the steps taken to support reproductive rights in the country:
“As a country, we have made several steps. After realizing there were difficulties for medical practitioners to unpack the Penal Code sections on abortion, we worked to develop the National Comprehensive Post-Abortion Care Guidelines.
“We made it clear that a competent, skilled health worker should determine when to terminate a pregnancy. We went further into incorporating misoprostol as a key game-changer in managing post-abortion care and medical abortion where necessary. This was a great step by the Ministry towards ensuring women and girls have access to their rights.”
While celebrating this progress, Dr. Makuwani cautioned against rigid amendments to the Penal Code, explaining, “The call to amend the Penal Code Sections and make them specific to certain conditions may lead to obstruction of services, for example, in cases of fetal abnormalities. The steps we’ve taken have clarified the ambiguity in the Penal Code and opened the door to accommodate necessary conditions.”
Judge Mwaimu weighed in, stressing the importance of aligning the legal framework with these guidelines: “Much as I agree with what has been said by Dr. Makuwani, from a human rights perspective, the clarity provided in the developed guidelines should be brought into law. This will not only ensure the protection of clients but also of practitioners. When our government signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol, we did so without any reservations. This shows there was political will, and we must ensure we fully domesticate the section in debate.”
Adding their perspectives, Dr. Mugisha Nkoronko, President of the Medical Association of Tanzania, and Dr. Matilda Ngarina from the Association of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Tanzania, called for broader access to reproductive health services, stressing the real-world implications of restricted access to safe abortion.
“If you go to gynaecological records in most hospitals, abortion is among the top conditions treated,” Dr. Nkoronko said. “We must not sit and think this is not happening. We have the chance to expand the conditions and make it easier for women to access care.”
Dr. Ngarina shared a personal story to underscore the importance of accessible services: “There’s someone I know who was against abortion; it went on like that until her high-school daughter got an unintended pregnancy. It was then she realized the need for the service was real. You may be anti-abortion just because you haven’t encountered a scenario that necessitates the need for it.”
The forum concluded with a call for continued efforts to bring stakeholders together and push for legal reforms. The 2024 Summit in Zanzibar marks the eleventh convening of the event, drawing over 1,500 participants, and continues to serve as a vital platform for sharing insights and advancing Tanzania’s health sector.
