At lawful 20, Esther Wamuhu from Laikipia West is space to rewrite her future. Just a few years ago, she had to assign her training on retain after an unplanned teenage pregnancy. Now, she is ready to return to faculty, design her secondary training, and pursue her dream of going to university.
But there became one foremost hurdle—rep entry to to inexpensive household planning.
“I wanted a good family planning method, but I just couldn’t afford it,” Esther remembers. Then, sooner or later, she heard an announcement on her local radio location a pair of free health outreach going down in her village. She didn’t hesitate to sprint, and the visit grew to change into out to be lifestyles-altering.
“I received a five-year family planning method for free. Now, I can go back to school without the fear of another pregnancy,” she says with relief.
For limitless females love Esther, rep entry to to quality sexual and reproductive health services and products remains a drawback in Kenya—particularly in informal settlements and a ways-flung arid areas the place excessive rates of maternal mortality, teenage pregnancies, and gender-based violence are overall
“We bridge the gap by taking these services directly to the communities,” explains Dr. Timothy Panga, Chief Officer for Health in Laikipia County. “Many women might never visit a health facility unless they are facing a critical condition, so outreach programs like these are essential.”
Recognising the urgency of those desires, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is making main strides by providing sexual and reproductive health kits value USD 100 000 to six precedence counties —Kajiado, Samburu, Laikipia, Siaya, Marsabit, and Tana River. These kits possess obligatory offers for household planning, post-miscarriage and post-abortion care, obstetric emergencies, and give a hang to for survivors of gender-based violence.
This initiative is rooted in a comprehensive 2024 desires evaluation performed by the WHO and Ministry of Health that identified serious gaps in practising, obligatory sexual and reproductive health offers, and community engagement. By strategically addressing these challenges, WHO Kenya is enabling more females and households to rep entry to lifestyles-saving reproductive health care services and products.
As an illustration, in Samburu, a urgent shortage of Oxytocin—a main remedy for stopping postpartum hemorrhage—became impulsively resolved, guaranteeing timely and efficient care. Additionally, the establishment of designated post-abortion care rooms in the county health facilities ensures females catch care in a safe and confidential atmosphere with the ideal standard of give a hang to with dignity and respect. As of February 2025, 6 post-abortion care rooms had been space up in the 6 counties which had been geared up with obligatory offers and medicines by the WHO.
The WHO Kenya can even be supporting the skill building of healthcare staff to bring comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and products. By on-the-job practising and mentorship by experts, County healthcare personnel are gaining progressed skills in post-abortion care and household planning, thus bolstering their confidence to present quality and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights services and products. Bigger than 216 recognize to date benefitted from the on-job practising and mentorship in 36 facilities in 6 counties. Additionally, to handle the gaps identified in 2024 around improving rep entry to in tough-to-reach and underserved communities, WHO is expanding its impact by integrated outreach services and products, which recognize already reached over 3,300 other folks in Laikipia County by myself, with 260 receiving household planning services and products and 1,147 present process most cancers screenings.
County leaders recognize lauded this initiative for its certain impact on females’s health. Governor Joseph Ole Lenku of Kajiado County expressed gratitude, emphasising the value of WHO’s collaboration in reaching underserved populations.
“We discontinuance no longer take this give a hang to without any consideration and in fact delight in our collaboration hurry with the World Health Organization,” he talked about.
As WHO Kenya continues to work with the authorities to expand rep entry to to quality reproductive healthcare, the level of interest remains on strengthening health programs and empowering communities with data and sources for sustained positive aspects in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
