FP has been a real passion of mine for a long time. Here are the main
reasons:
Family
planning is simply the best way to improve conditions in Kenya
Population growth in Kenya is unsustainably
fast. This makes meaningful progress nearly impossible in almost every sector of development.
For example, maternal healthcare. I just spent 6 months helping launch a world-class
maternal healthcare organization. I’m really proud of our progress and feel lucky to be part of it. I recently read
this New
York Times article, about how FP is another extremely cost effective method of saving mothers at birth.
Before that,
I spent 2 years building ToughStuff
(who is doing really well lately, btw). Turns out that FP is about 6 times more cost
effective at reducing carbon emissions than solar!
Many believe that educating girls is the key to slowing population growth. I agree. The key to educating girls? You guessed it: Investing in FP is more effective than investing in the Kenyan education system itself.
Source: USAID.
In fact, this type of
data can be found to show Family Planning’s positive impact on almost every sector of development. And the data becomes more and more
convincing the longer into the future you consider. The below graph shows the savings for Kenya in 5 areas by investing in FP over 6 years. Imagine the savings over a generation or two.
Anecdotal,
but a quick conversation with a few Kenyan families will show the personal
effects of population growth: the more kids you have, the less money you have. A woman
taught me a Kenyan saying last week, “Rich people count their money. Poor
people count their children.”
Secondly, women want FP. No convincing needed
National data shows 25% of women have an unmet need for family planning in Kenya. That’s 1
out of 4! My personal research supports this as well. Hundreds of mothers have told
us that they don’t want another child but they have no choice. The demand for
family planning already exists - no education or advertising needed.
Side note -
Sex and your body are about as core to someone’s rights as it gets.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of women who don’t get much of a say in their sex lives. I
would love to help some women regain control of something women should always have
the final say in anyway.
Another side
note - More FP leads to less abortions. Correlation proven:
There's lots of interesting demographics in Nairobi from a FP perspective:
- Women at universities – the vast majority, around 80% according to early surveys, of whom are currently only using emergency pills for contraceptives. Some as often as weekly.
- Women who work in factories – six days a week makes access to FP tough.
- Women who meet in groups, such as microfinances, chama’s, church groups, sports, etc., are easy to access and accustomed to pooling funds.
- Middle and upper income Nairobi women – some of whom have really fun and healthy sex lives and enjoy talking about that stuff (I mean, who doesn’t?).
For all
these groups I see major gaps in the current healthcare system around the same
two issues. One is privacy, confidentiality and how it relates to the men in
their lives. The other issue is judgment; many women feel so judged that they
resort to the FP options that you can get over the counter without seeing a
doctor (namely, emergency pills).
Possible
business models could be a healthcare clinic designed specifically for any of
these demographics and their needs in women’s health and FP. Another could be
mobile clinics that go to factories or universities. Maybe a healthcare
professional at your doorstep idea for women’s groups. Any models designed at
the upper income bracket could be an excellent way to drum up local support and
to earn income that could subsidize efforts aimed at other targets.
Government
They’re behind family planning full force and the capability to deliver is
growing. Article in our national paper.
Technology
It’s not perfect and results depend highly from woman to woman, but we have lots
of great options now, all available in Kenya.
Knowledge
FP actually isn’t that hard. The population council has built an
unbelievable guide on how to do counseling and education, provide the care
and how to train your staff to do it. They even translated to Kiswahili. It has
all the answers. It’s like we’re
cheating!
If you love this stuff, get in touch with me. NickSowden21@gmail.com And do some perusing of the links below and throughout this post:
Great stuff Nick! I am a Masters student here in Kenya pursuing Health Systems Management,looking into ways we can strengthen our health systems to respond effectively to meet the demand of FP services.
ReplyDeleteHealth financing should spread the risk and subsidize the poor e.g. upper income women to subsidize for the low income, and the government should provide subsidies to the poor. Since some women do not belong in the formal sector, community health insurance schemes are a possibility
BTW,FP services have to involve men, especially in rural areas as FP as they associate with emasculation
Sorry for the long post :-)
Thanks Janet. Good points made.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree, FP services should involve men. And I'd love to know your opinion on "how?".
A big believer of ‘It takes two to Tango’. As much as you target women, ensures you inform them on how their husbands can participate e.g. vasectomies. Been chased away by men who accused us of 'spoiling their wives' because we had not involved them in our outreach on FP :-). But I see you have featured vasectomies on your charts, so I guess you have figured that out, that way when they go home they always have something to say to their hubbies.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a young guy, how have you managed to get your message across? Or you have people who talk to the women? We had a hard time cause married women with kids don't want to listen to younger, unmarried women with no kids give them advise on how to plan their families,which is understandable. I'm learning a lot BTW......
Awesome post. It's so startling and yet ingenious to see that family planning has so many profound benefits. Seems like one's efforts to help others could be multiplied many times over because it's so effective. Nick, you're definitely the right guy for the job. Let me know how I can help.
ReplyDeleteOrganized content is the best way to display or post an article, thank you for making it easy to digest your post.
ReplyDeleteAbortion Clinics in Moorpark