Assessment of the Intersection between Modern Family Planning Services and Social Realities of the Kurya People in Tanzania: A Case of Tarime District, Mara Region, Tanzania

Abstract

This study examined the intersection between the use of modern family planning services and the social realities of the kurya community in Tarime District, Tanzania. Data were collected using interviews, FGDs and observation methods because each method informed a certain aspect of social reality. This study employed qualitative research approach, case study research design and content analysis as a method of analyzing data. The data indicate that the utilization of modern family planning services in Tarime District in Tanzania was low as it encountered with the social realities which are anti-modern family planning services.  The low utilization of modern family planning services was attributed to gender norms and values, fertility culture, traditional beliefs about infertility, polygamism and initiation ceremonies. Also, the data indicate that in some cases, the kurya people decided to combine modern family planning methods and traditional methods in order to minimize the perceived side effects brought about by modern family planning services. The study concludes by holding that the kurya social realities impact a lot on the acceptability and use of modern family planning services in Tanzania. The study has two basic recommendations; one is that the modern family planning methods which the kurya people are equipped with have to complement the traditional family planning methods.  Secondly, more studies have to be conducted to understand how what happens when the social realities of a particular area encounter with the modern family planning services across social-cultural and economic milieu in Tanzania and elsewhere as this study was context-specific.