•The Government should urgently look into fulfilling its Family Planning 2030 commitment to meet the 75% threshold of FP funding domestically in the 2023-2024 budget.
• The tests also indicated that some pills contained as much as 3000mcg of estradiol, 100 times more than the recommended dosage.
Four days ago, a tragic story in the media caught my eye.
A herbal Chinese contraceptive called Sophia made its way into the country and was being used by some Kenyan women.
It had an attractive offering-it and was affordable, retailing at only 200 Kenyan shillings per tablet.
It was a one-time-use per month tablet, possibly relinquishing the angst of daily pill-popping and sometimes forgetting.
It was also marketed as herbal. And you know Kenyans love everything herbal!
Regrettably, it’s all a marketing gimmick with devastating side effects. The drug is not herbal, far from it actually.
An analysis of the pill at the National Quality Control Laboratory (NQCL) found that the pill has abnormally high levels of the hormones levonorgestrel and quinestrol, the active ingredients in conventional contraceptive pills.
The pills were found to have over 40 times the recommended levonorgestrel and quinestrol hormones.
The tests also indicated that some pills contained as much as 3000mcg of estradiol, 100 times more than the recommended dosage.
The recommended daily pill contains 30mcg! These excessive hormonal levels pose a serious risk of blood clots and heart disease to the women taking these pills.
Women on this pill also experience varying side effects with the most common ones being nausea, tender breasts, palpitations, "heavy" legs, tiredness and a feeling of false pregnancy.
Unfortunately, the side effects of this dangerous pill affect more than just the woman.
Babies born to these women or babies breastfeeding while their mothers are on the pills are exposed to excess estrogen and carry a risk of developing secondary sexual features.
Cases of children born with enlarged breasts and abnormally developed uterus of children below three years have been recorded.
Other complications in breastfeeding children were swollen feet, knock-knees, painful muscles and slurred speech.
Apparently, this same pill was banned from the Kenyan market 10 years ago due to these side effects on both women and children.
I stumbled upon a 2007 University of York study on the safety, effectiveness and continuation of the once-a-month contraceptive pills in China and found that a lack of good quality data prevents confident assessment of the safety and efficacy of once-a-month pills.
It further stated that short-term safety information indicates a high incidence of bothersome side effects and hypertension.
It concluded that high monthly estrogen and progestogen doses raise questions about the safety of the once-a-month pills.
As we celebrate World Contraception Day today whose theme is ‘Breaking myths and misconceptions on family planning, I couldn’t be more appalled by the state of affairs in the country.
Due to the ineffective border and port controls or through legal borders but as undeclared goods, these toxic contraceptive pills infiltrate, find a ready market and at a colossal detriment to many women.
A woman’s right to decide when to have children and how to space them shouldn’t be impaired by a system that cannot guarantee access to high-quality and affordable contraceptive commodities.
Border, airport and port surveillance should be heightened. Porosity at these entry points is costing us the life and health of Kenyan women and children exposed to these toxic products.
Continuous sensitization of contraceptive options should be an ongoing event for all women particularly those in low-income and rural areas who may not have easy access to information.
Embracing and engaging with indigenous knowledge and expertise regarding herbal contraception is something we can venture into.
I am reliably informed that quite a number of communities across the country use their own herbal contraceptives.
Therefore, investing in research and development for herbal medicine is a possible point of exploration.
Since the country’s rebasing from a low-income country to a lower middle-income country a few years ago, we are slowly being weaned off reliance on Western counterparts for our contraceptive commodities (Over 90% of our family planning commodities found in public health facilities are grants from Western States and Foundations).
The Government should urgently look into fulfilling its Family Planning 2030 commitment to meet the 75% threshold of FP funding domestically in the 2023-2024 budget.
#FPForAll Joanne Kobuthi-Kuria is a policy & human rights specialist [email protected].