Promoting data use using murals and music to inspire hope for a “Tanzania without drugs”
A new song, performed next to Tanzania’s first-ever data mural, raises awareness about drug abuse and its impact on community health in urban Dar es Salaam. Watch the music video now!
This blog post was published as part of the Data Zetu project. Data Zetu is now an initiative of the Tanzania dLab, a local NGO that promotes innovation and data literacy through a premier center of excellence. For more information about the dLab, visit www.dlab.or.tz. For more information about the Data Zetu project, visit www.irex.org.

Twenty percent of people who use drugs who were tested at Temeke District methadone Center, Dar es Salaam, live with HIV.¹ How can better use of data help in the fight against HIV/AIDS?
Tanzania’s growing data ecosystem just added another collaborator: musicians. KINASA (an abbreviation of “Kiswahili na Sanaa”, or “Swahili and art”) is a hip-hop group from Temeke District, one of Tanzania’s most populous areas and a PEPFAR DREAMS district with some of the region’s highest prevalence of HIV. KINASA’s mission is to spread the Swahili language while affecting change to their community through music.

With training and mentoring support led by Data Zetu partner Tanzania Bora Initiative (TBI), KINASA artists were encouraged to incorporate data into their music in creative ways to spark a conversation about drug abuse, which has a strong correlation with the spread of HIV. The result of this innovative collaboration is the song “Narudi nyumbani” (“I’m coming back home”). Watch the video here:
The Data Zetu team visited communities in Temeke to help them identify priority challenges (learn more about these Listening Campaigns here). One of the community-identified topics that really resonated with them was the issue of drug abuse, because they witness it on a daily basis in Temeke, which has a large population of unemployed male youth.
Drug abuse is a very serious issue in our streets, and we would like to affect change on this issue using our music…With this data knowledge our music will make much more sense.
— Nash MC, KINASA Leader

More than just a concert
The song was launched at a free public concert in a busy area in Temeke District. The site was chosen because it sat next to a data mural — also produced through Data Zetu — that tells a story about the contrast between a the harsh realities of drug addiction and the promise of a “Tanzania without drugs” (which makes up part of the song’s chorus).
The data mural is one of several produced across Tanzania that draw attention to data about community-identified challenges and directs passersby to local support services that treat those challenges. Stay tuned for a blog post about these data murals soon!

What’s the impact?
We recognize that a song and mural that highlights data about drug abuse isn’t going to solve the problem, and abstinence-only campaigns are not effective without harm reduction and support for people who use drugs. Nevertheless, survey responses of passersby of the mural and crowd members at the concert suggest that creative tools like these are helping to change perceptions about the role that data and facts can play in the decisions Tanzanians make. For example:
- After visiting the data mural, 92% of survey respondents reported an increase in their belief that “data is an important part of my day-to-day life.”
- After visiting the data mural, 96% of survey respondents reported a stronger belief that “data is important to help me make a decision.”
- In both cases, every single woman who was surveyed (23 total, compared to 45 men) reported these positive changes.
We also asked men and women what the most powerful message of the data mural was to them. We were fascinated to learn that statistics about drug abuse and the extent of its problem were the most interesting to women, while data about where to find support for people who use drugs was the most valuable information for men. This gives us insight into the different types of data that matter to men and women about community challenges related to HIV and AIDS, such as drug abuse.
Additionally, we invited concert-goers to share a key learning outcome from reading the data mural. Here are some of their responses (translated to English):
The number of people admitted to hospital due to drug use makes me and the community aware of the intensity of the problem.
I’m now more aware of places to refer and receive help whenever we encounter someone using drugs.
A Tanzania without drugs is possible.

Next steps
To get more people involved in this movement, this song will be promoted through online and main stream media with an expectation of reaching more than 19 million Tanzanians.
This song and its accompanying data mural is just part of numerous synchronized efforts by Data Zetu to help make data about health accessible to everyday Tanzanians. Stay tuned for a blog post about other data murals that highlight data about community-identified priorities and link viewers to support services, and also for episodes from Data Za Kitaa (“Street Data”), a TV show that visits youth across Tanzania to unpack data about sustainable development in their country.
[1] Tanzania Drug Abuse Report 2016 (Drug Control and Enforcement Authority).
