Kenya hits public health milestone in family planning

KENYA – Kenya has recorded improvement in family planning uptake among women of reproductive age with 52 percent of those eligible using modern family planning methods, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry cautioned that as the push for enhanced uptake of family planning commodities intensifies, experts have warned Kenyans against taking family planning commodities that have not been approved and registered by the pharmacies and poisons board (PPB).

During a round table meeting with health journalists, Head of promotive and preventive services at the Ministry of Health Dr. Andrew Mulwa said the government remains committed to addressing existing gaps with statistics indicating a gradual improvement in uptake.

He further expressed concern about the low uptake of family planning commodities among men despite them having the greatest influence on reproductive matters.

If we don’t take care of the population now, we will take care of the negative impact of population explosion in the immediate future,” Dr. Mulwa said.

He highlighted that Kenya is now classified as a middle-income country while noting that the national government has gradually increased domestic financing for family planning commodities with the country expected to fully finance its contraceptives budgetary needs by 2026.

The government allocated US$4.64M (KES 559M) for family planning commodities in the 2020-2021 financial year, US$4.67M (KES 563M) during 2021-2022 while US$9.9M (KES 1.19B) has been set aside for the 2022-2023 financial cycle,” he added.

In addition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, United Nations Population Fund and other partners have pledged to provide monetary support to bridge the financing gap with supply requirements standing at KES2.5B during this financial year.

Head of the Department of Family Health Dr. Issak Bashir denounced deep-seated societal myths and misconceptions while noting that the barriers are to blame for the low family planning uptake among sections of the community.

The country risks witnessing a cycle of perpetual poverty if the correct information and services are not made available for the general population with the bulk being young people,” he further said.

In addition ,the Government of Kenya is now focusing efforts to expand equitable access to quality family planning care at the county level besides making efforts to finance family planning budget allocation.

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