The uptake of family planning in Mombasa is still low at 45 per cent, health officials in the county have said.
Public Health chief officer Pauline Oginga said over-the-counter services offered by pharmacists and chemists are not captured in their data, hence the low reporting.
Mombasa has 47 public health facilities, but there are many private chemists and hospitals that offer family planning services.
“On average, as a county, we operate at 45 per cent of reproductive health services, specifically family planning. However, that is not the exact data because we are losing so much data on the over-the-counter services,” Oginga said.
She said they have established loopholes in the reporting system between the county and private facilities.
“We are now working closely with them (private facilities) to ensure that all data is captured,” Oginga said.
On Wednesday, the county received a mobile clinic from The Challenge Initiative (TCI), which will be used to provide family planning services in informal settlements.
“We have received a wagon that is a well-furnished mobile clinic to help us offer services to the community,” she said.
The official said people in the community fear if they go to hospitals, they will undergo counselling sessions.
“The services will be moved to informal settlements because people do not create so much time on healthcare services unless they are quite sick. We are working towards ensuring that we have proper access to these services, reach out to them and create sensitisation within those areas,” she said.
Oginga said the county is also working to ensure there is a mobile laboratory to provide testing services to the community.
“Because of Covid-19, there was a temporary cessation of outreach services to avoid exposure of healthcare workers. We are planning to launch a care pod, a mobile laboratory which will be offering testing services in January 2022,” she said.
TCI programme regional coordinator Paul Nyachae said the health wagon will help reach areas where there are no health facilities.
Edited by A.N
