At real 20, Esther Wamuhu from Laikipia West is decided to rewrite her future. Just a few years within the past, she had to assign her education on withhold after an unplanned teenage pregnancy. Now, she is ready to return to college, dwell her secondary education, and pursue her dream of going to university.
Nevertheless there used to be one main hurdle—gain entry to to sensible household planning.
“I wanted a good family planning method, but I just couldn’t afford it,” Esther remembers. Then, at some point, she heard an announcement on her local radio keep a couple of free health outreach taking place in her village. She didn’t hesitate to chase, and the refer to grew to change into out to be life-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 endless females like Esther, gain entry to to quality sexual and reproductive health products and services remains a exclaim in Kenya—seriously in casual settlements and far-flung arid areas where excessive rates of maternal mortality, teenage pregnancies, and gender-primarily primarily based totally violence are traditional
“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 these needs, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is making major strides by offering sexual and reproductive health kits price USD 100 000 to six precedence counties —Kajiado, Samburu, Laikipia, Siaya, Marsabit, and Tana River. These kits enjoy well-known presents for household planning, post-miscarriage and post-abortion care, obstetric emergencies, and give a enhance to for survivors of gender-primarily primarily based totally violence.
This initiative is rooted in a entire 2024 needs review performed by the WHO and Ministry of Health that known extreme gaps in working towards, well-known sexual and reproductive health presents, and community engagement. By strategically addressing these challenges, WHO Kenya is enabling more females and households to gain entry to life-saving reproductive health care products and services.
Let’s say, in Samburu, a pressing scarcity of Oxytocin—a well-known medicine for combating postpartum hemorrhage—used to be resolved, guaranteeing effectively timed and efficient care. Additionally, the establishment of designated post-abortion care rooms within the county health facilities ensures females receive care in a protected and confidential atmosphere with the very supreme standard of give a enhance to with dignity and admire. As of February 2025, 6 post-abortion care rooms were keep up within the 6 counties which had been equipped with well-known presents and medicines by the WHO.
The WHO Kenya is also supporting the capacity building of healthcare group to ship entire sexual and reproductive health products and services. By scheme of on-the-job working towards and mentorship by specialists, County healthcare personnel are gaining developed abilities in post-abortion care and household planning, thus bolstering their self belief to present quality and entire sexual and reproductive health and rights products and services. Extra than 216 salvage up to now benefitted from the on-job working towards and mentorship in 36 facilities in 6 counties. Additionally, to handle the gaps known in 2024 around bettering gain entry to in laborious-to-attain and underserved communities, WHO is expanding its affect by integrated outreach products and services, which salvage already reached over 3,300 other folks in Laikipia County alone, with 260 receiving household planning products and services and 1,147 present process cancer screenings.
County leaders salvage lauded this initiative for its sure affect on females’s health. Governor Joseph Ole Lenku of Kajiado County expressed gratitude, emphasising the mark of WHO’s collaboration in reaching underserved populations.
“We enact no longer take this give a enhance to as a proper and genuinely like our collaboration glide with the World Health Organization,” he said.
As WHO Kenya continues to work with the federal government to expand gain entry to to quality reproductive healthcare, the main point of curiosity remains on strengthening health methods and empowering communities with records and sources for sustained beneficial properties in sexual and reproductive health and rights.
