Alongside its many disruptions and negative impacts, the Covid-19 pandemic came bearing invaluable lessons, mostly relating to promoting health and well-being.
One of the greatest lessons from the pandemic has been the need to empower young people to autonomously take charge of their sexual and reproductive health. This reality sank deeper particularly at the height of the pandemic, when access to contraceptives was limited, thus reducing their use and increasing the risk for youth
The movement restrictions effected to control the spread of the pandemic triggered supply chain disruptions, leading to contraceptive stock-outs and even where they were available, many young people whose livelihoods had been affected could not afford them. In addition to this, many were kept away from visiting health facilities from which they could access free contraceptive services for fear of contracting the Coronavirus.
The consequences of these circumstances were demonstrated starkly in the 2021 Kenya Health Indicator Survey that indicated a decline in the national average of contraceptive use among women of reproductive age in 2020/21 to 29.6 per cent. These undid gains made in recent years that had seen a consistent rise in use of up to 44 per cent the previous year.
This situation laid bare the urgent need to empower young people to take sexual and reproductive health self-care in their hands as a solution to such eventualities. This would mean them promoting their reproductive health, with or without support from healthcare professionals. Self-care runs the entire gamut, from self-management when it comes to medication, treatment, examination, injection, administration and use of various options; to self-testing, including sampling, screening, diagnosis and monitoring; and self-awareness that involves help, education and regulation.
This is not to imply that this is an alien concept; many young people are already practicing various aspects of self-care. They are actively seeking and sharing information relating to their sexual and reproductive health, avoiding unwanted pregnancies and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), regularly going for HIV/ STI check-ups, practicing good personal hygiene habits, and using self-care products such as condoms, HIV self-test kits, safe days tracking apps (menstrual apps), and daily pills to make informed sexual choices.
All these efforts need to be enhanced and scaled to reach as many young people as possible while making it inclusive and less stigmatized and stereotyped. This army of empowered youth would also play a role in tackling misconceptions, myths, misinformation and socio-cultural beliefs relating to contraceptives and other aspects of their sexual and reproductive health.
Self-care would put the young people in good stead to weather disruptive shocks similar to the pandemic in future without jeopardizing their health and well-being by avoiding unplanned pregnancies among other risks. This will contribute towards delivering the constitutional right to quality healthcare and improve health, human rights and social outcomes, while securing the country’s future.
Besides, self-care presents an opportunity to bridge existing gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health services across different parts of the country. It can help increase coverage and access, bridge disparity and increase equity and quality of service by reducing cost and enhancing efficiency in deployment of the currently strained healthcare resources and services.
Efforts need to be invested in reproductively empowering young people to proactively make proper decisions that match their prevailing needs. This also requires making various options accessible, affordable and innovative, to fit the varying needs and circumstances.
Making sexual and reproductive health self-care available is a collective responsibility and calls for the collaboration of various parties. Skilled healthcare workers are critical in engaging young people to make informed choices relating to their reproductive health; and therefore, have to be supported and upskilled to play this role. The public and private health sectors need to invest in setting young Kenyans on the self-care journey.
The young people themselves need accurate and accessible information not only for their own use but also for influencing their peers towards accepting and adopting self-care. This calls for innovative information and service access points with tailored and individualized interventions to address the current mismatch between messaging and needs. In addition, self – care presents an opportunity to eliminate systemic social and cultural biases hindering young people’s access to quality and comprehensive sexual health care thus reducing barriers on self decision-making for many young people in Kenya
The opportunity that self-care presents in enhancing young people’s access to sexual and reproductive health while deepening universal healthcare coverage is too great to be missed. Whereas its potential dividends for the economy and the society at large are great, failure to pay attention to it also has far-reaching consequences on the future.
Ms. Nelly Munyasia is the Executive Director at Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK)
