Women urged to access press contraceptive

Mapale Health Centre community health nurse officer Bridah Chilemani has encouraged women accessing health services to prioritise sayana press contraceptive jab to prevent unplanned pregnancies.

She said this on Tuesday in Mzuzu where healthcare workers engaged women on how they can use the self-injector family planning method.

Chilemani said sayana press, which allows women to administer the contraceptive at home every three months, aims to reduce travel and hospital visits.

She said: “Sayana press is an injectable family planning method. A woman using this method will need an injection every three months, totalling four shots a year.

“It is an important family planning method because it gives opportunity to women to do other activities at home because it is self-administered.”

Chilemani said with the country now experiencing population increase, it was

PHOTOGRAPH: NAOMI MTSETEKA

Chilemani (R) presents sayana

contraceptive to Msiskaimportant to empower women to make family planning decisions to avoid bearing many children.

“This is the reason we have intensified awareness campaigns on how to administer the contraceptive,” she said.

Charity Msiska from Mchengautuba in Mzuzu, expressed satisfaction the method, saying it is user-friendly.

“I was using depo-provera contraceptive and I was coming to the hospital every three months but now I will not visit hospitals since I will administer the contraceptive myself,” she said.

The country started using sayana press in 2019 after clinical trials conducted in six rural health centres in Mangochi District between September 2015 and September 2017 indicated that the contraceptive is 99 percent effective