A Kenyan government initiative to improve reproductive health is being rolled out in the Malindi area.And for a nominal 50 Ksh (approx 36p) , women living in poverty can receive a smart card entitling them to free long-term family planning services from from the coil and implants to sterilisation.
The campaign OBA 2030 is being delivered by trained social workers who are going out into communities to explain it to local women and Mama was delighted to invite them to the Happy House to meet with a group of mothers who have some of their children in our care.
All, but one, wanted to sign up but none had the 50 Ksh needed. Mama had already decided that we would fund the cost if necessary.
The woman initially reluctant to sign-up had not fully understood what it meant but when the other women gathered round to talk with her and to counsel her in their own way, she soon changed her mind seeing how it could help her.
There are so many children born into poverty and neglect, and many women die from complications in childbirth.
This initiative aims to give women the ability to manage their own fertility and to improve their reproductive health.
Our six are a small drop in a huge ocean but it is a start.
Mama is determined to do all she can to help empower women to use the services available and to help bring an end to the self-perpetuating cycle of childbirth, poverty and neglect which results in children being taken into care.
