The Dutch government will not stop her engagement and support for the reproductive health sector and women empowerment programs in the country, visiting Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen has promised.
Ploumen said her government is committed to empowering young women and girls, who are affected by challenges of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infection (STIs) and would continue supporting reproductive health programs.
Speaking in Shinyalu when she visited two health facilities being supported through the IPAS Africa Alliance, the minister said in response to fears that the Dutch government may withdraw funding for reproductive health sector that no there is no plan to cut the support.
Volatility has hit the health sector after, the US government announced the withdrawal of funding for some programs in the health sector among them family planning. The American people were financing the program through the USAID.
Highlighting the Kakamega east sub-county health indicators, area medical officer of health (MOH) Jairo Songa noted that maternal mortality remains high at 880/100,000 live births while neo-natal deaths currently stand at 55/1000 live births.
He noted that a major cause of fatalities among young women was haemorrhage arising from unsafe abortion, adding most facilities in the rural areas are constrained in term of resources and capacity to deal with cases.
He said Kakamega East continues to experience a high unintended teenage pregnancy levels estimated at 657 cases annually. He said there was a need to enhance the capacity of the rural health care centres to comprehensively manage post-abortion services.
The County sexual reproductive health service officer Rafa Mwenesi noted that though the health budget accounts for about 30 percent of the County budget, reproductive health hardly gets 5 percent of that stake impeding administration of post-abortion care services in most facilities.
