"If I chose to listen to people, I possibly wouldn't be using family planning": Impact of external influences on women's contraceptive autonomy in rural Northwest Tanzania.

Background: There is an increasing emphasis on promoting women's autonomy in reproductive decision-making, particularly given global efforts to increase contraceptive access and uptake. Scales to quantify autonomy have inconsistently included the effect of external influences and focused primarily on influences of partners.

Objectives: This study aimed to gain greater depth in understanding how influences including and beyond a woman's partner affect her contraceptive decision-making, as well as how external influences can overlap and further complicate contraceptive decision-making.

Partnerships with religious leaders to promote family planning in rural Tanzania: an open-label, cluster randomised trial.

Background: Family planning benefits maternal-child health, education, and economic wellbeing. Despite global efforts, an unsatisfied demand for family planning persists in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on previous successful partnerships, the aim of this study was to determine whether an educational intervention for religious leaders would increase community knowledge, demand for, and ultimately uptake of family planning.

Perspectives of Muslim Religious Leaders to Shape an Educational Intervention About Family Planning in Rural Tanzania: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Uptake of effective contraceptive methods can be hindered by poor understanding and uncertainty about its compatibility with religious beliefs. We sought to understand the perspectives of Muslim religious leaders in rural Tanzania on family planning (FP) and acceptable strategies for providing FP education to leaders and their communities.

Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with Muslim leaders from 4 communities in northwest Tanzania.

Religious Leaders as Trusted Messengers in Combatting Hypertension in Rural Tanzanian Communities.

Background: Hypertension is a growing public health emergency in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the known influence of religious leaders in rural sub-Saharan Africa and our prior research, we explored perspectives of religious leaders on hypertension and potential strategies to improve hypertension control in their communities.

Methods: We conducted 31 in-depth interviews with Christian (n = 17) and Muslim (n = 14) religious leaders in rural Tanzania.

Preferences for family planning education among men and women in rural, highly religious Tanzanian communities: a discrete choice experiment.

Unmet need for family planning (FP) remains prevalent worldwide. In Tanzania, 21.7% of women desire to delay pregnancy, but do not use modern contraception despite its free availability at local clinics.