The impact of structural adjustment policies on women's and children's health in Tanzania

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Abstract
Since 1981, in an attempt to deal withTanzania's present social and economic crisis which dates back to the late 1970s, the government has adopted a variety of policy measures including The National Economic Survival Plan (NESP), Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) I (1986) and II (1989); the Economic and Social Action Plan (ESAP) and Priority Social Action Plan (PSAP) (1989). The principal objective of these adjustment measures has been to attain macroeconomic balance by bringing national expenditure into line with national income to reduce inflation and to increase exports. Other objectives have been to maintain egalitarian income distribution and provision of basic social services to the majority of the population. In order to realise these objectives, the government has been controlling credit and has removed subsidies on certain food items and agricultural inputs; introduced a system of progressive devaluation; liberalised trade; and has been trying to reduce government expenditure by introducing cost sharing measures in the education and health sector. The erosion of real incomes and increased poverty have had a devastating effect on women and children: rural women have yet heavier workloads as males migrate to the urban areas to look for work; there is increased maternal mortality; chronic malnutrition and poverty are rendering the implementation of HIV/AIDS intervention strategies difficult. But most of all, the danger lies in the lack of care for future generations.

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