- Counseling for family planning.
- Medical eligibility criteria.
- Service integration (HIV and related service) and referrals.
- Contraceptive methods.
- Pharmacovigilance.
- Infection prevention and control.
- Anatomy and physiology of the human reproductive system.
- Reproductive health commodity management.
- Family planning documentation and reporting.
The package clearly outlines issues of accreditation for pharmacy outlets and the certification of trainees. Once trained, pharmacists will be able to orient clients on self-injection of DMPA-SC as part of an implementation science initiative.
The training package was pretested with a group of 15 pharmacists selected as a national trainer of trainers effort. The pretest was completed on August 16, 2020, and validated on December 20, 2020, at meetings convened by the MOH. The experience and inputs from the two meetings were used to refine the training package.
Once a training package is validated, the next step is the official MOH sign-off. Unfortunately, this did not happen as anticipated. The MOH program manager leading the training package development and the head of the Department of Family Health transitioned. Their replacements needed to be brought on board.
Nearly six months passed with little progress. On June 23, 2020, AFP partner Jhpiego Kenya mobilized a few champions within and outside MOH to provide a briefing to the new head of the Department of Family Health and make a case for signoff. The champions included:
- Former MOH family planning managers who had worked on the training package.
- CEO of the PSK (who is also PATH’s Access Collaborative Ambassador).
- Director of Training at the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
- CEO of the Urban Research and Development Centre for Africa.
The head of MOH’s Division of Reproductive and Maternal Health Services also attended the meeting.
Following this meeting, the head of the Department of Family Health asked Jhpiego Kenya to provide him with hard-copy documents that confirmed prior MOH approval for pharmacists to provide injectable contraceptives. Jhpiego was also asked to respond to how quality standards will be addressed.
Jhpiego Kenya held a meeting with the head of the Department of Family Health on July 2, 2020, to provide the necessary information. On July 13, 2020, the Departmental Head signed off the training package.
Following this milestone, Jhpiego Kenya engaged with the new MOH family planning program manager to ask for the establishment of a training coordination committee. It was established on August 13, 2020. The family planning training coordination committee for pharmacists and pharmaceutical technologists is co-chaired by the Department of Family Health and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. The PSK which has been a key ally in the development of the training package, serves as the secretariat.