Provision of family planning services in Tanzania: a comparative analysis of public and private facilities.

Adherence to the policy guidelines and standards is necessary for family planning services. We compared public and private facilities in terms of provision of family planning services. We analyzed data from health facility questionnaire of the 2006 Tanzania Service Provision Assessment survey, based on 529 health facilities. Majority of public facilities (95.4%) offered family planning services, whereas more than half of private facilities (52.1%) did not offer those. Public facilities were more likely to offer modern contraceptives as compared to private facilities. However, private facilities were more likely to offer counseling on natural methods of family planning [AOR = 2.12 (1.15-3.92), P < or = 0.001]. Public facilities were more likely to report having guidelines or protocols for family planning services and various kinds of visual aids for family planning and STIs when compared to private facilities. This comparative analysis entails the need to enforce the standards of family planning services in Tanzania.