Reproductive Health Network Kenya’s Post

Somewhere in Kenya right now, a woman is self-injecting her contraceptive at home instead of taking a day off work for a clinic visit. Somewhere else, someone is testing themselves for #HIV in the privacy of their own room. 🏠💉 Neither of them shows up in a headline. But they show up in data, if we're measuring the right things. 📊 That was one of my biggest takeaways from the recent MOH - Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health - Health Promotion and Demand Generation (HPDG) Community of Practice meeting, where we were well represented. 🤝 What gets measured gets attention. What gets attention gets investment. And what gets investment has the power to change lives. As Kenya continues to make progress in advancing self-care, one question kept coming up in the room: How do we know we're actually making progress? 🤔 The conversation quickly reminded us that developing policies and guidelines is only half the journey. The other half is measuring what is working, identifying what isn't, and using that evidence to continuously improve. One highlight: the review of the Draft Kenya Self-Care Investment Case, a document that makes a compelling case for investing in interventions such as DMPA-SC self-injection, HIV self-testing, and HPV self-sampling. 💡 The discussion wasn't about whether self-care works. We already know it does. It was about making the investment case even stronger, by: ✅ Reflecting the broader self-care agenda ✅ Clarifying stakeholder roles ✅ Strengthening the monitoring framework ✅ Recognizing the contributions of government, development partners, civil society, and the private sector We also had the opportunity to present the Self-Care Progress Tracking Tool for validation. Members recommended making the tool simpler, stakeholder-specific, and focused on measuring implementation rather than knowledge. Sometimes, the best innovation isn't adding more questions, it's asking the right ones. ✔️ It was equally encouraging to hear updates from partners across the country. From research on new self-care interventions, digital health messaging, #HIV self-testing, and Community Health Promoters, to webinars, IEC materials, and integrating self-care into HIV and #RMNCAH programmes, the momentum is real. 🤝 Perhaps the most exciting discussion was around data itself. We agreed that before we can truly measure progress, we need to understand where we're starting from. 📍 A recommendation was made to conduct a national baseline assessment, to map existing self-care data systems, identify gaps, and support the integration of standardized self-care indicators into routine health information systems. Because data doesn't just tell a story. It shapes decisions, influences investment, and helps build stronger health systems. 📈 What's one thing your organization measures that actually changed how you work? We'd love to hear it. 👇 #SelfCare #PrimaryHealthCare #UHC #HealthPromotion