Nairobi MCAs commit to priotize youth reproductive health services

A section of Nairobi County MCAs Thursday morning met with members of civil society and youth representatives from Nairobi to evaluate motions that will enhance access to reproductive health services for young people in the county.

The MCAs led by Hon. Kabiro Mbugua also presented notices of the two motions Thursday afternoon at the County Assembly.

“Beyond these motions, we are also committing to push the County Executive to turn the motions into bills. We are aware that the general elections are just around the corner, but this does not derail us from our commitment to serving the interests of the young people in Nairobi,” said Mr Mbugua.

The decision comes after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted service provision in the public health sector, with more resources being redirected to pandemic interventions at the expense of other key healthcare services such as reproductive health.

The first motion “urges the County Executive in conjunction with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services to domesticate the National Guidelines for Provision of Adolescents and Youth Friendly Services with necessary modifications to improve availability, accessibility, acceptability and use of quality sexual and reproductive health services by adolescents and youth seeking services in all the County Health facilities within the County.”

The second motion urges the County Executive to “develop youth related programmes and strategies that will ensure meaningful youth participation in decision making processes in the County; and increase the scope of public participation.”

Catherine Njenga, the National Coordinator for the Right Here Right Now II coalition, urged the County Health Management Teams to prioritize access to youth friendly services at all public health facilities and invest in the training of service providers to minimize stigma when interacting with youth.

“Millions of adolescents and young people lack access to youth friendly services in the public health-care system. Currently, only about 10% of facilities in Kenya’s public health system provide comprehensive youth friendly services. These challenges are often linked to inadequate budgetary allocation to reproductive health information and services,” she added.

Adolescents and young people continue to bear the brunt of inadequate reproductive health information and services. A recent report by the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) revealed that in 2021 Nairobi County recorded the highest number (2,379)of teen pregnancies for adolescents aged 10 – 14.

Beverly Nkirote, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa (NAYA) lauded the MCAs move and called for a sustainable plan to ensure young people that youth in Nairobi have access to life-saving information and services about their reproductive health.

“We encourage legislators to think beyond the parliamentary walls when coming up with laws and interventions for the rest of Kenya. This is because Kenya has a reputation of having very good-looking policies that never leave the paper to be implemented. This is why we are encouraged to see young MCAs who directly face and experience some of these issues, taking up the mantle to champion for young people’s health,” said Ms Nkirote.