Kenya has received a boost of 450,000 doses of a self-injectable contraceptive, to make family planning more accessible.
The contraceptives procured by UNFPA with over Sh57 million (£348,000) funding from the UK government will be distributed by the Ministry of Health to health facilities across the country.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, the Subcutaneous Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate doses will simplify and enhance the accessibility of family planning.
The UN agency described the DMPA-SC as user-friendly saying it can be administered by trained individuals including community health workers and women themselves.
While receiving the supplies at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority warehouse in Nairobi on Thursday, acting Director General of Health Patrick Amoth said the integration of the contraceptive into the reproductive health landscape is part of broader reproductive health self-care initiatives aimed at improving service delivery.
"These will support the government's efforts to increase access to family planning in line with global trends toward self-care intervention," he said.
UNFPA noted that the government has made significant progress in promoting access to family planning, with the modern contraceptive prevalence rate rising to 57 per cent in 2022, up from 53 per cent in 2014.
During the same period, the unmet need for family planning was reduced from 18 per cent to 14 per cent.
Despite the progress, however, barriers such as the high financial cost of access and uncertainty over supply continue to hinder efforts to meet the demand for family planning.
"Funding for the family planning program is a vital component of the support we receive from the UK government, as it ensures that women can access and choose from a range of quality family planning methods, no matter where they live in the country," UNFPA Representative Anders Thomsen said.
"This in many ways helps us deliver on the commitment to end preventable maternal deaths."
In 2023, UNFPA supported the Ministry of Health in expanding access to family planning commodities and services by procuring a range of family planning methods distributed to over 6,000 health facilities across 47 counties.
The commodities served over 2.5 million women of reproductive age.
In his address during the handover, Deputy Development Director at the British High Commission Eduarda Mendonca-Gray said sexual and reproductive health and rights are a key priority for the UK.
"The evidence confirms that access to and availability of family planning commodities reduces poverty, enhances prosperity and provides dignity for women," he said.
He assured that they will remain committed to working collaboratively with the Ministry of Health to empower women to plan for their lives and future and to decide when to have children by choice not by chance.
The UK government has been a longstanding partner of UNFPA and the Government of Kenya in efforts to ensure Kenyan women and girls have access to sexual and reproductive health information and services.
The contraceptives handed over on Thursday are expected to benefit over 400,000 women of reproductive age, contributing to the prevention of 42,750 unintended pregnancies and 122 maternal deaths.
