Addressing the Family planning need of adolescents girls

 In Kenya teenage girls have the highest unmet needs of family planning among all women of reproductive age. Adolescent girls are four times more likely to contract  HIV than their male counter parts as nearly half of the teenage pregnancies are unintended.

Family planning is a key intervention for improving the health and wellbeing of adolescents as it will prevent them from unwanted pregnancies. As family planning plays a big role in sexual reproductive health and rights thou the unmet needs are still high as their is a challenge in accessing family planning services such as;unavailability of family planning commodities in the health facilities demonstrated by frequent stock out,structural barriers prohibiting village community health workers from carrying emergency contraceptives, unavailability of long term acting methods in lower level facilities. Cultural norms and practices that place decision making authority regarding number of children to have,Lacking accurate information on family planning and perceived high cost of family planning making it impossible to the majority poor.

There for there is need for;

Expansion of access to and demand for a broader mix of family planning methods.

Promotion of gender equally as a prerequisite for increasing uptake of family planning.

Investment in community structures such as community health workers for effective delivery of family planning services.

Elimination of fees associated with access to family planning services in both public and private facilities.

Addressing the socio - cultural barriers to family planning with a view to ensure that all adolescents can access the services.

Availability of accurate information regarding family planning to enable adolescents make information choices.

By;

Josephine Mwangecho



Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 15, 2021 at 5:19 AM

    A nice piece. Though among adolescent the main argument has been the idea that providing them with FP services encourages promiscuity. In addition, the FP has to be provided with the consent of the parent. Most parents are however oblivious to this fact. In fact, some parents are never even aware that their children have started menstruation and are sexually active.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jo's mitchellJuly 16, 2021 at 11:18 AM

      That's true but its only in Kenya where parent find it difficult to talk to there children about sex. Do parent even have knowledge about family planning. Teenagers are growing fast they see everything from social media I mean they are asexually active so they need to know more about family planning so as to reduce early pregnancies, HIV/Aids and STIS. My thoughts are that African parents need to pull up their socks since the fact is that we have so many teen pregnancies

      Delete
  2. Snave The ReformerJuly 16, 2021 at 9:38 AM

    Nice article, but don't you think that by encouraging and advocating for family planning amongst teenage girls in Kenya will only encourage immorality. My opinion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jo's mitchellJuly 16, 2021 at 11:21 AM

      I don't think sensitizing the teen about sex and family planning is a bad idea.Children grow in a faster age by the time they reach 10 years they already know a lot so its good to encourage family planning so that they can be aware and so that they can prevent themselves from early pregnancies, HIV/AID AND STIS

      Delete
  3. CarlosJuly 16, 2021 at 11:44 AM

    Good article...there is really a need for family planning services among teenage girls

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownNovember 1, 2021 at 11:18 AM

    Great article there is need to enhance SRH education and access to the youth

    ReplyDelete

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