From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013
Tomorrow is World Contraception Day, an annual event taking place on September 26 every year. Countries and regions around the world organize events to mark the day and to demonstrate their commitment to raising awareness of contraception and improving education regarding reproductive and sexual health.
The day is being marked when in Kenya the rising sales of emergency contraceptives commonly known as “morning-after pills” is worrying experts, following growing abuse by Kenya’s sexually active youth.
It is worrying that e-pills are being abused by many youth and underage girls. These pills are sold openly to young girls, including students by private chemists all over Kenya. Just as sex sells, so do the pills.
The drugs are supposed to be used twice per year but the girls take them almost every weekend without considering their side effects. This is because the pharmacists sell these drugs to these vulnerable young girls without doctor’s prescription. These pills are cheap and available. A packet sells for Sh150.
In a radio advertisement at the centre of a controversy in Kenya, a distraught teenage girl asks for help after having unprotected sex. “What shall I do? I’m still in college. What happens to my future, my friends, my family, my life?” she sobs.
Such advertisements have contributed a lot for the use of these pills among teenage girls. Some parents even encourage their girls to use them if they cannot overcome their sexual urges for intercourse.
Many young people are now using the e-pill routinely, some even buying the pills in advance in any case the boy friend insists on sex. College and university girls are using these pills irresponsibly.
Besides side-effects, like nausea, heavy bleeding and cramps, regular use of the emergency contraception may cause infertility and in some instances increase the risk of cancer, still this has not stopped these noble girls from using the pills.
The message these youth are getting is that what matters is that you go out and have fun because you won’t get pregnant. They don’t care about the side effect. The adverts are being sponsored by the US non-governmental organisation funding the campaign – Populations Services International in Kenya.
Besides that, frequent use of the e-pills affects your ovulation cycle and interferes with your fertility cycle. Yet taking the e-pill only solves a quarter of the problem, which is pregnancy, but leaves you susceptible to a myriad of serious STIs.
Furthermore, frequent consumption of the e-pill increases your chances of having an ectopic pregnancy. Again, since e-pills are used to prevent pregnancy within 120 hours of intercourse, girls who use them any time they have sex are at risk of terrible side effects.
E-pills are not supposed to be used as a regular birth control method due to their high hormonal content. Some of the most popular e-pills sold in Kenya are Postinor2, Pregno, Smart lady, Truston2 and Ecee2. Apart from nausea and dizziness, other side effects include vomiting and abdominal pain.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002