QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

T-MARC releases the first issue of its newsletter and welcomes all T-MARC stakeholders to become regular readers. The newsletter will provide various information pertaining to our programmes, initiatives, accomplishments and much more. Please join T-MARC by reading our exciting first issue, which can be found here on our website. Karibu sana.

Introduction to T-MARC Company Ltd.

The Tanzania Marketing and Communications (T-MARC) Company Ltd. is an independent Tanzanian owned and run organization registered in Tanzania as a not-for-profit business limited by guarantee. T-MARC Company works with Tanzanian businesses to develop or expand markets for health products for HIV/AIDS prevention and care, family planning, child survival, and infectious diseases that will achieve a demonstrable and sustainable health impact. T-MARC Company employs a dynamic approach that involves bringing together public and private stakeholders to design and implement health communications campaigns that will increase the adoption of healthy behaviors, decrease risky behaviors, and support the sustainable growth of desired health products and service categories.

As part of this approach, T-MARC Company launched a male condom, Dume, a female condom, Lady Pepeta, and an oral contraceptive, Flexi P, and is working with commercial partners to introduce an array of new public health products to the Tanzanian market, including low-osmolarity oral rehydration salts (LO-ORS) and zinc tablets.

T-MARC Company launched two successful HIV/AIDS communication campaigns to promote HIV/AIDS prevention strategies in Tanzania: faithfulness/partner reduction and correct and consistent use of condoms. T-MARC Company’s “Sikia Kengele: Tulia Na Wako” faithfulness initiative was launched in March 2007 and uses large mobilization events to encourage communities that interact with high-risk groups in Tanzania to adopt healthy sexual behaviors by promoting partner reduction and faithfulness as a way of avoiding HIV infection. The Vaa Kondom generic initiative promotes the correct and consistent use of condoms among high-risk population groups that work and live along key transportation corridors.

Additionally, T-MARC Company launched a series of radio vignettes featuring Mama Ushauri, currently airing on a variety of radio stations in Tanzania. This radio serial drama supports the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s (MOHSW) initiative to further enhance family planning knowledge among the public and to promote modern family planning methods. It addresses family planning and reproductive health myths and misconceptions through a recounting of episodes in Mama Ushauri’s life. Over the past year, T-MARC Company created and aired 52 new story lines with the assistance of its partners and the MOHSW.

 

Success Stories

R&B Superstar Kelly Rowland Visits T-MARC Project to Give "Staying Alive" Foundation Award to Former Sex Worker
R&B superstar Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, visited the T-MARC Company’s offices in Dar es Salaam in mid-June to present an MTV Staying Alive Foundation award to a former Tanzanian sex worker named “Eliza,” who is now working to save the lives of her former peers. Ms. Rowland is MTV's 2008 AIDS Awareness Ambassador for the Staying Alive Foundation. The Staying Alive Foundation and the Tanzania Marketing and Communications for AIDS, Reproductive Health and Child Survival (T-MARC) project both provide small grants to support local projects that reach people who are particularly at risk for HIV infection. Read more

The Fourth Season of the Mama Ushauri Radio Serial Drama Begins
At a crowded community event held outside the Buguruni Anglican Health Center in Dar es Salaam, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare Hon. Prof David Mwakyusa (MP) and U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, Mark Green, officially launched the fourth season of the Mama Ushauri Radio Serial Drama for reproductive, child and maternal health. Other dignitaries included Dr. Gertrude Mongella, President of the Pan-African Parliament and U.S. Agency for International Development's Tanzania Director, Pamela White. Read more

Vaa (Put it On) Kondom: Enabling Tanzanians at Risk to Protect themselves from HIV and AIDS
Approximately, one million Tanzanians between the age of 15-49 are HIV positive – a staggering statistic considering how preventable transmission of HIV and AIDS is. In a new initiative to encourage the correct and consistent use of condoms called Vaa (Put It On) Kondom, AED and the T-MARC Company through T-MARC Project are supporting Tanzanians in taking personal responsibility to help prevent new infections. Read more