Health Advocacy Press Releases - June 2011
Sikika has been engaging in production and dissemination of press releases in order to air its voice
on issues affecting the health sector paying special attention on HIV& AIDS, Human resources for
health, Medicines and Supplies or health care finance and government.
The press releases are in form of rapid response where the organization responds to any breaking
news on the above mentioned three focus areas and findings from Sikika (research, analytical report,
commentaries etc).
From June 2010 to June 2011 we came up with 42 press releases of which 26 were in English while
16 in Kiswahili.
Our press releases had a lot of impact on their intended targets, especially the one on unnecessary
expenditures which saw Hon Maige embarking on an exercise to cleanse his Ministry, through
investigating misdeeds committed in the ministry and imposing a ban on international trips. This was a
step in the right direction in as far as reducing unnecessary use of taxpayer’s money is concerned.
Also, unnecessary expenditures have reduced as Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as
regions, from 684 billion (bn) Tanzanian Shillings (Tsh) in financial year (FY) 2008/09 to 530 bn Tsh
in FY 2009/10, which is a reduction of 22.4 percent. But, for the FY 2010/11 these expenditures
are expected to rise slightly to 537 bn Tsh, a move which contradicts the government’s stated
commitment to spend its resources more wisely.
Another press release which had immediate impact was Shut Down the National Audit Office. The
press release urged the government to shut down the office for lack of seriousness and failure
to address the CAG’s observations and recommendations. This contributed to the government
announcing that they were going to work on CAG recommendations during a parliamentary session
in Dodoma.
Other press releases might not have brought immediate results but their impact on the intended
targets should never be understated as they have stimulated a lot of debate on various blogs.
Despite the fact that some sections of the media have not been publishing our press releases, for
political reasons, Sikika enjoyed wide coverage such that we believe our targeted audiences got the
messages
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