Participant of a past health workshop at KICC making preparations
Photo/ Sammy Mburu
Family planning campaign on month of September gained boost as the
government and non-governmental organizations came together and pledged support
for the program aimed reducing the birth rate among slum dwellers.
The campaign is aimed at reducing the birth rate which
according to health experts has been on the rise in Kenya especially in urban
slums.
The ministry of health and public sanitation through
partnership with Jhpiego and Merck Sharp Dohme (MSD) launched a health
wagon which will be used to offer various services such as drugs and counseling
to Nairobi slums residents on family planning.
The wagon will also be used to create awareness and
sensitise married couples on the need to adopt family planning methods
available.
Among the family planning methods and services that the
wagon will be offering are pills, cervical cancer screening,
consultations and Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT).
According to health officials, the wagon which has modern
facilities such as couch, water reservoir, intra uterine contraceptive
device (iucd) and drawers will be effective in accessing slum population which
has over the years been left out in the campaign.
According Dagoretti district medical officer Dr Jackson
Muunda who represented the Health ministry said the government will use the
wagon to preach on the advantages of family planning.
He also said the wagon will be used as a means of reaching
out to the people and providing information on all alternative modern methods
of family planning.
Speaking during the launch of the health wagon at ACK church
in Gatina Village, Kawangware in Nairobi to mark the world contraceptive day,
Dr Muunda said the wagon will be visiting city slums among them Kibera,
Kawangware, Korogocho, Mathare and Kayole.
Project director at Jhpiego, Nelson Keyonzo called on other
organizations and the government to join efforts in improving lives of Kenyans
through such initiatives.
He said there is need to provide people with meaningful
information that will change positively on their lives.
Mr Keyonzo further urged health officials to ensure citizens
across the country have access to family planning services among them
contraceptives, pills and implant insertion.
MSD Sub-Saharan Africa manager, Frans Van Birgelen said it
was also necessary to involve men in the family planning campaigns.
He said that men have in most campaigns been left out and
this has partially led to failure of such initiatives.
He said MSD which supplies wide range of contraceptives was
ready to work with like-minded organizations in a bid to control the high rate
of birth in Kenya which could pose a challenge if ignored.
