Nairobi, December 11, 2024- A donation of 31,300 sets of Jadelle contraceptive implants has been handed over to the Ministry of Health as part of efforts to improve access and reduce stock-outs of family planning supplies in Kenya.
The contraceptives, procured with funding from the UK government will be distributed to health facilities across the country, contributing to the aversion of 60,073 unintended pregnancies, 1,014 maternal (171) and child (843) deaths, and 17,299 unsafe abortions.
While handing over the supplies at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) warehouse in Nairobi, Ms. Eduarda Mendonça Gray, Deputy Development Director at the British High Commission said: “The UK is committed to being a global leader in supporting reproductive health services. Over the last 6 years, through our Delivering Equitable and Sustainable Increases in Family Planning (DESIP) programme, we have worked with the Kenyan government to ensure that more people have access to and use family planning services.”
The availability of quality and accessible family planning is key to the realization of Kenya’s development goals. By 2030, Kenya aims to increase the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) for married women from 58% to 64% and reduce the unmet need for family planning for all women from 14% to 10% by 2030. The donation of contraceptive implants will complement the Government’s efforts to increase access to family planning to reach this goal.
“We are grateful to the UK government and UNFPA for the continued support to the national family planning program. Jadelle is a long-term method with a higher cost-benefit analysis as compared to short-term methods ” said Dr. Patrick Amoth, Director General for Health in the Ministry of Health. “We are not looking at family planning as a reproductive health issue, but also as a socio-economic development intervention that contributes to the prosperity of our country.”
“The contraceptives handed over to the Ministry of Health today will not only improve women and girls’ health but also impact the economy. We are estimating that Kenya will save approximately Kes 582 Million in direct healthcare costs associated with unintended pregnancy,” said UNFPA Representative in Kenya, Anders Thomsen.
The UK government has been a longstanding partner of UNFPA and the Government of Kenya in efforts to ensure Kenyan women and girls have access to sexual and reproductive health information and services. The contraceptive implants delivered to the Ministry of Health are valued at Ksh34million, and will go a long way in eliminating the gap in accessing reproductive health products. The UK government has also provided an additional Kes 165,003,627 in funding for the procurement of additional family planning commodities through the UNFPA Supplies Partnership. The commodities which include male condoms, DMPA-IM, and implants, will upon procurement be handed over to the Ministry of Health for distribution to 100 primary healthcare facilities across Kenya.
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For more information, please contact:
Irene Wangui-Communications Specialist, UNFPA- wangui@unfpa.org
Janet Sudi, Communications Manager, British High Commission- Janet.Sudi@fcdo.gov.uk
