Family planning budget up 60pc

Dodoma. The government has raised the family planning budget by 60 per cent as it seeks to meet the growing demand for of such services across the country.

The Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu told the Parliament on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 that the government will spend a total of Sh22.5 billion on family planning during the 2018/19 financial year, up from Sh14 billion in 2017/18.

Ms Mwalimu was responding to a question from Mr Sebastian Kafupi (Mpanda Urban - CCM) who had wanted to know what the government was doing to raise the family planning budget to meet the Sh36 billion requirement.

But in response, Ms Mwalimu said though the requirement stands at Sh36 billion, it was also worth noting that the government has been raising the budget for family planning purposes every year.

“It was Sh7 billion in 2016/17 and we doubled it to Sh14 billion in 2017/18,” she said, adding that the government was working with other stakeholders to ensure that all the relevant medicines are made available.

According to Ms Mwalimu, the government was now specifically focusing on Simiyu, Geita, Mwanza, Shinyanga, Tabora, Kigoma and Katavi regions where usage of family planning methods are below the national average of 32 per cent.