- County reproductive health coordinator Mwanakarama Mohammed said lack of information is a big challenge.
- She said that as a department they have also involved men who are educated about vasectomy.
Image: /COURTESY
Lack of information in the community has been cited as the main hindrance to contraceptive uptake in Mombasa.
County reproductive health coordinator Mwanakarama Mohammed said lack of information is a big challenge.
“People don't have enough information about family planning services and contraceptives. We cannot say people don't want to use them but lack of information is evident,” she said.
Mombasa through the department of health has, however, rolled out sensitisation programmes in the community on the modern ways of family planning and the importance of using contraceptives.
Last September, Mohammed said the county recorded that 32 per cent of the residents were using contraceptives and family planning but the number has since risen to 49.5 per cent, which also saw a decline in teenage pregnancies.
She said the outreach programmes target not only adults but also youth below 24 years.
“We have been engaging the communities through our community sensitisation programmes and reaching out to youth in schools to help them understand our services,” she said.
She said youth have found it hard to access the services in hospitals because of fear of vilification but they are working with peer groups to reach out.
The department has also isolated rooms in all subcounty hospitals where youth can access contraceptive and family planning services without interacting with adults.
Early this year, there was a concern of an increase in the number of youth accessing contraceptives over the counter and excessive use of the morning pentium 2 pills (P2).
Mohammed said the number of youth using P2 started to drop after an engagement with them through the community dialogue.
“We have always been telling youth the emergency pill is not a usual method, instead it is a method used in case of emergency but when they need it, they engaged private chemists to ensure that when giving the drugs over the counter, they take the records to the department.
“We have conducted training of pharmacists on how to handle people seeking the services in the private chemist, they have been informed on how to handle them and they know what to do and in case of anything, we encourage them to refer the patients to our hospitals,” she said.
She said some pharmacists are referring patients to public hospitals but others have not mastered the process well.
Mohammed said buying drugs over the counter menace is not a county challenge but it is being experienced at the national level.
This was noticed when they complained to the Ministry of Health that they are not getting data because people are accessing the contraceptives through private pharmacies.
“The board of medicine sat down and had a communication with private institutes who agreed to use a Master Facility List (MFL) number which will help us get the correct data,” she said.
Speaking during the world contraceptive day in Mombasa on Monday, she said as a department, they have also involved men who are educated about vasectomy.
“We have numbers that show that people might undergo vasectomy, although still low, it can be 0.1 per cent. Apart from this process, men are advised to use condoms or work together with their partners in using the calendar,” she said.
County coordinator for gender-based violence for adolescent health Selina Githeji said they have life skill education and a mental health programme which helps the youth to know themselves well.
“Our main work is to ensure the youth health is okay and they complete school without cases of early pregnancies," she said.
"To achieve this, we are doing sensitisation through different groups in the community and also involve parents on incentive parenting."
Youth are also taught a comprehensive package of life skill education which includes abstinence, contraception use including natural and artificial ways so that after training they can make individual decisions.
She said most youth prefer using P2 but it is not advisable because it has effects.
“P2 has its effects and you cannot use it all the time, it cannot be used as contraception instead it is used as an emergency, therefore, we are calling upon the youth to visit hospitals and use another way," she said.
During Covid-19, there was a high number of early pregnancy cases reported but not in Mombasa, Githeji said cases were higher in 2017.
However, she said that the number has been decreasing every year and now there are less than 500 cases of early pregnancy in the county.
“We are employing many ways to ensure that girls understand themselves to prevent early pregnancies. Today we have children who don't use contraceptives and fewer teenage pregnancy cases," she said.
“Those getting pregnant are aged between 20 to 24 years, who are in college, cases among children aged 10 to 14 years have drastically dropped, ” she said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)