Thirty minutes outside Arusha on the way to Nairobi and then 3km along a dirt road is the Selian Lutheran Hospital. One of 20 Lutheran hospitals across the country, the Selian facility serves the primarily Maasai population in the surrounding area. This morning the PAI team visited the reproductive health (RH) unit of the hospital and learned of the important role it plays in meeting family planning needs despite the ongoing challenge of securing a consistent supply of contraceptive methods.

Ms. Florah Kyara, a nurse in the RH unit, opened a cabinet and showed us the shelf containing all of the contraceptive supplies in stock, which was less than half full. Selian Hospital offers its clients a range of family planning methods, including condoms, three types of oral contraceptives, injectables, implants, IUDs and male and female sterilization; but only after each new client has received a complete medical examination and counseling about her contraceptive choices.