By Eddah Waithaka
The Centre for Reproductive Rights (CCR) is working with the Ministry of Health and stakeholders to promote a better understanding of the ‘triple threat’ in Nairobi County.
The collaboration aims to provide a platform for stakeholders to share experiences, review and assess the existing legal and policy frameworks related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the country.
The triple threat includes family planning, maternal health, access to safe abortion and prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are fundamental components of the response to the triple threat.
Ministry of Health, Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health representative, Dr Jane Koech, said that the County Integration to Reproductive and Maternal Health has a policy framework for the year 2022-2032 that has a strategy that works with the vision in various departments in the ministry.
“We have a triple threat as a country and five strategic directions, which are to reduce maternal and prenatal mortality and mobility in the country, to reduce human immunodeficiency virus and to eliminate mother-to-child transmission,” she said.
Other strategies include improving health programme outcomes from 12 percent to 62 percent, developing postpartum haemorrhage and promoting gender equality.
Dr Koech added that integrating the country would help achieve the Family Planning Goal.
She was speaking at the Reproductive Health Stakeholders Meeting on Tackling the Triple Threat in Nairobi County held at Radisson hotel in Nairobi on Wednesday.
At the same time, she noted that people aged 15 to 49 are not able to access reproductive equipment such as family planning, a concern that has led the Ministry of Health to come up with new interventions that will involve a new innovation and modalities of new market products to address the reduction.
Dr. Koech told the gathering that the ministry has improved the health outcomes of adolescents and young people through various strategies, including youth-friendly services in health facilities from level 3, level 4, level 5 and level 6 hospitals, developing a comprehensive strategy at the departmental level and promoting gender equity in relationships and medication.
In addition, she noted that CCR has been working with stakeholders and chiefs on the Return to School Policy to ensure that the policy allows girls who become pregnant to continue their education.
Dr. Koech urged stakeholders to support the community in combating the triple threat by becoming a voice and sharing their insights, experiences and knowledge related to the triple threat and sexual and reproductive health and rights in the country.
Center for Reproductive Rights Associate Director for Africa, Legal Strategies, Martin Onyango, said that CRR has worked across a broad spectrum to ensure that adolescents have access to sexual and reproductive health services, and will continue to advocate for quality maternal health care to safe and legal abortion and assisted reproduction.
“In Kenya, particularly through our work in Nairobi County, our efforts are critical in addressing the overlapping challenges of new HIV infections, adolescent pregnancies, and sexual and gender-based violence – the triple threat,” he said.
Mr. Onyango announced that through innovative legal strategies, the Centre has achieved landmark victories before the United Nations Committee and regional human rights bodies, and said that the successes achieved have dismantled harmful laws and policies, thereby holding the government accountable and extending reproductive rights successes around the world and in Africa.
“We urge our partners, especially those working in Nairobi County, to continue to join forces as we work towards a future where stronger legal protections and reproductive rights are a reality for all, not just in Nairobi County, but in Kenya as a whole,” he added.
