Shot in the arm for family planning services
Birth control pills
What you need to know:
- According to FP2030, a global partnership that advocates for family planning, more than 6.1 million women in Kenya were using modern methods of contraception in 2021, thus the calls for increased domestic financing.
- DSW advocacy officer in Meru Winfred Nkatha noted that over-reliance on donor funding is likely to affect reproductive health service provision.
Meru County has increased funding for family planning and reproductive health services amid declining donor funding in Kenya.
According to a study by DSW Kenya, an international non-governmental organisation addressing Sexual and Reproductive Health and population dynamics, to establish the level of resource allocation by counties, Meru doubled its budgetary allocation for family planning from Sh70.8 million in 2020 to Sh139.9 million in 2021.
This amounts to about four per cent of the county’s Health budget, which takes up Sh3.5 billion every year.
According to FP2030, a global partnership that advocates for family planning, more than 6.1 million women in Kenya were using modern methods of contraception in 2021, thus the calls for increased domestic financing.
DSW advocacy officer in Meru Winfred Nkatha noted that over-reliance on donor funding is likely to affect reproductive health service provision.
“The county’s Health department needs to advocate for domestic investments through the budget making process based on the family planning costed implementation plan estimates to guarantee availability of high quality family planning information and services,” DSW recommends.
The county’s health facilities have been grappling with family planning supplies stock-outs, affecting uptake of the services.
Meru Health Services Director Koome Muthuri said the county government is keen on increasing funding and human resource capacity to improve reproductive health service delivery.
He said this will address the challenge of lack of expertise to provide long-term family planning services in primary health care facilities.
“We have already increased funding for reproductive health services and allocated Sh10 million for training of reproductive health care workers this year. This a significant increase compared to Sh2 million in the previous financial year,” Dr Muthuri said.
He said increased funding for reproductive health would enhance uptake of ante-natal and post-natal care services.
Dr Muthuri said the health department is also working closely with administrators, religious organisations, elders and the Judiciary to address sexual and gender-based violence as well as teenage pregnancies that account for 38 per cent of pregnant mothers.
Data from the Kenya Health Information System indicate that there were 34,800 skilled deliveries in 2021 in Meru, accounting for 72 per cent of the total number of pregnant mothers.
Caesarian-section accounted for 24 per cent of the skilled deliveries.
The report indicates a rise in the number of abortions from 2,700 cases recorded in 2020 to 4,000 in 2021.
Meru Health Records Officer Robert Kinoti cited a persistent decline in the number of mothers attending ante-natal care (ANC) services.
Out of 44,000 mothers who went for the first ANC visit, only 17,000 made it for the fourth visit.
Mr Kinoti further noted that despite 37,900 babies being seen in post-natal care clinics, only 517 mothers are seen.
“It is recommended that mothers attend post-natal clinic for six months. However, a majority of those seen are babies,” he said.
The Meru Health department has also adopted a toll free SMS service that shares post-natal care information with mothers who visit hospitals within the county to increase uptake of services.
