Redraft reproductive health policy to leave no one behind

The 2010 Constitution devolved healthcare services. That provides an opportunity to the 47 counties to create space for citizen participation in prioritisation, planning, resource allocation and monitoring of programme implementation. It also presents unprecedented challenges to the sector that determine its effectiveness.

The Constitution provides the overarching legal framework to ensure every person has a right to the highest attainable standard of health, including reproductive health and rights. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Consequently, the ICPD Programme of Action 1994 broadly states that reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system.

With the universal reproductive health coverage goal in mind, the Ministry of Health recently redrafted the National Reproductive Health Policy. Inclusiveness in managing the sector is key to providing quality and efficiency of service delivery. However, key stakeholders in the sector, particularly service providers, the civil society, medical bodies and the other county governments were not involved.

One of the key aspects of the devolved healthcare is that it provides room to design innovative models and interventions that suit the unique needs of every county and their involvement when developing national policies. Therefore, the people a policy is aimed at serving need to be involved in its drafting. 

Consultative process

The aim of the reproductive health policies is to provide guidance on priority interventions so as to reduce reproductive health mortality and morbidity and achieve universal reproductive health coverage.

In this regard, an inclusive and meaningful consultative process is necessary in ensuring that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) interventions meet the needs and priorities of the public, especially populations that are often left behind.

The draft policy is seriously lacking in critical components of reproductive health as it does not include key minorities who require urgent and coordinated attention at every level. Notably, it includes a qualifying clause which notes that it supersedes all other related policies, rendering them null and void to the extent that they contradict it.

It also ignores its own policies on a wide variety of issues — like menstrual hygiene, post-abortal care, Adolescents Package of Care, Kenya Aids Strategic Framework and National Family Planning Guidelines.

The draft was never made available in a platform that is easily accessible to the public. Its development was never publicised and information was shared among stakeholders in elite and high-level networks. How, then, can we ensure that no one is left behind when, during such a vital process, there is no inclusion of key stakeholders?

Ms Kathia is a sexual and reproductive health advocate. [email protected]