East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA-The Ugandan ministry of health has issued fresh guidelines that will enable community health workers to provide injectable contraceptives to women especially in hard to reach rural areas.
This was during last week's conference in Kampala to discuss the policy shifts that would increase access to injectable contraceptives through community based distribution.
These mainly included training of Village Health Teams (VHTs) who would in return provide clients with comprehensive information on all contraceptive methods and the supervisors such as the district heads on the other hand facilitating supervision on the feedback on the performance of VHTs.
Dr. Nathan Kenya Mugisha, the director of health services in the Ministry of Health says that this was being done in order to provide women with greatly expanded access to a mix of contraceptive options.
"We believe community based delivery of injectable contraception is the best avenue to increase access to the most popular family planning method in Uganda, particularly for women living in hard to reach areas," Dr. Mugisha said.
He added that community based delivery of injectables raises consciousness about family planning, and allows Ugandan to make decisions about their fertility that they are right for themselves and their families. Dr. Angela Akol, the Uganda Country Director for Family Health International (FHI), a leading international health and development organization, says the new policies would overcome the barrier to contraceptive uptake among women which is accessibility to health facilities.