Background
Condoms are the most common contraceptive method among HIV affected couples in Kenya. However, many use condoms incorrectly or inconsistently, meaning that they don’t give full protection against diseases or unwanted pregnancies. A solution to this is dual contraceptive use, which means combining condoms with another efficient contraceptive method for better protection.

About the project
This project was created to increase the dual contraceptive use among HIV positive clients at Machakos County Referral Hospital’s HIV clinic. The project team trained the clinic staff and increased the clients’ access to family planning services by offering daily health education talks on family planning and the importance of dual contraceptives. They also held weekly health education sessions on safe sex and contraceptive use for adolescents attending the clinic. In addition to this, the team introduced family planning counselling for couples and for men, in order to increase male engagement in contraceptive use. Adolescents were also offered individual counseling by nurses and peer educators.

Results
By the end of the project, family planning services had been successfully integrated in the HIV clinic and created a spin-off effect in the hospital, where family planning was also integrated in other hospital wards – including the gynaecology clinic, maternity ward and antenatal and postnatal ward. The counselling services for men and couples led to a noticeable increase in men’s engagement in family planning decisions and dual contraceptive use increased slightly, from 30% to 33%. Going forward, the project team are planning on training more youth counsellors to increase the use of dual contraceptives among adolescents and expand the project to more HIV clinics in Machakos county.

Year: 2014