New member news: Marie Stopes Kenya reopens clinics

Marie Stopes Kenya has reopened its clinics and outreach programmes following weeks of post-election violence in Kenya that has left more than 1,000 people dead, thousands more injured and hundreds of thousands homeless. With widespread reports of rape and other gender-based violence against women during recent clashes, Marie Stopes Kenya clinics are offering special free services for women survivors including emergency contraception and the testing and treatment of sexually-transmitted infections.

In addition, Marie Stopes Kenya is liaising closely with other agencies such as the Red Cross to ensure that sexual and reproductive healthcare is provided as part of the emergency services package offered in camps set up for those displaced by the violence. As well as Marie Stopes Kenya team members providing services in the camps in the Nairobi and Rift Valley provinces, humanitarian agencies are referring survivors of gender-based violence to Marie Stopes Kenya's clinics for emergency medical treatment. Marie Stopes Kenya has also recently received support from UNFPA to set up camps in Nyanza province.

The Marie Stopes International Partnership has a long history of working in emergency settings, most recently through its RAISE (Reproductive Health Access, Information and Services in Emergencies) Initiative, a multi-agency, multi-country programme which brings together 10 leading service delivery and advocacy organisations to scale-up reproductive health services in crisis settings.

This initiative relates to one of the three focus areas within the Coalition's second Strategic Goal which aims to support a coordinated response to provide RH supplies to countries in crisis. This means more and a wider range of RH supplies in emergency responses to countries suffering from conflict and natural disasters.

Marie Stopes International joined the Coalition last November after the new membership policy was put in place. Click here for more information about Marie Stopes International.

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