SFH easing access to family planning services in Kigali

Lawrence Uwiragiye , 30, a resident of Kicuciro Sector in, Kigali, found herself having three children in just four years.Being unemployed, it became exceptionally difficult for her to raise basics like food and clothing for them. She couldn’t seek a day-time job, because there wasn’t any one to stay behind and look after the toddlers.Her biggest fear was giving birth to more children, yet she couldn’t fully support the existing ones. This is when she made the ultimate decision.She walked to a close-by clinic and after consultations with a doctor on Family Planning related issues. She was subjected to Jadelle Contraceptive Implant, that Society for Family Health (SFH) provides.“Contraceptives brands used to give me nausea and back-ache, however this ended four months ago when I started using Jadelle,” she says. Pointing out that Jadelle having a lifespan of five years in ones body, gives her chance to plan for her children, before probably giving birth to more.According to Dr Jean Bosco Harelimana, of Family Health Dispensary, Remera, Gasabo District, SFH does not only provide family planning products to them at a subsidised cost, but also offers training and technical counsel. “They subjected us to one week of imparting theoretical knowledge, then immediately followed by another of practical skills on use of family planning methods,” Dr Harelimana said.He said SFH supplies them with contraceptives such as Confiance pills and injectables, Jadelle, and Plasir and Prudence condoms at more than half the market price.“For instance, while a Confiance injectable contraceptive at SFH stores costs just Rwf150, a similar product at an ordinary medical store goes for as much as Rwf800,” he said.Dr Harelimana said people do not only like SFH products for theirquality and affordability, but because they are also well-packaged and have Kinyarwanda instructions.According to Jean De Dieu Turaturaniwe, a medical detailer at SFH headquarters in Kigali, 25 private medical personnel around the city were equipped with family planning-related skills in October.More 20 are currently undergoing similar training, he said.Dr Turaturaniwe said for SFH to start dealing with a health facility, it should be a private institution already offering family planning services, and should be meeting Ministry of Health standards.“We target private practitioners particularly because we know that their exposure to this kind of training is usually limited,” he said.Dr Turaturaniwe added that SFH holds community outreaches, regular talk shows on various radio stations, and also sponsors the airing of plays that contain family planning messages, for instance, Urunana on Radio Rwanda and BBC as part of the awareness campaign.