HIUD Access Group at RHNK 2026

Delegates stop for a photo at the HIUD Access Group booth

The Access Group hosted an exhibition booth at the 9th Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK) Pan-African Adolescent & Youth SRHR Scientific Conference in Mombasa, which served as a meeting point for delegates throughout the event. More than 40 new professional connections were established with researchers, healthcare providers, policymakers, and implementing partners.

Conversations centered on the latest evidence, country implementation experiences, advocacy resources, and practical considerations for introducing and scaling up the method. Many delegates were eager to see the hormonal IUD firsthand and requested product samples to better understand it, a sign of growing interest in expanding knowledge and awareness of the method.

 Alice Olawo, Family Planning Technical Advisor at FHI 360, presents her abstract at the RHNK Scientific Conference.

The conference program also featured Alice Olawo from FHI 360, who presented an abstract on family planning counseling experiences among recent hormonal IUD adopters, comparing adolescent girls and older women. The study found that the two groups reported similar counseling experiences, including counseling on contraceptive-induced menstrual changes. It also highlighted opportunities to strengthen counseling by providing more comprehensive information and raising community awareness of the hormonal IUD beyond health facilities.

She also joined a Ministry of Health-led panel on the achievements, challenges, and lessons learned from Kenya's hormonal IUD rollout and scale-up. Panelists shared program experiences, pointing to achievements such as provider trainings, availability of equipment, and service provision, alongside gaps still to address: strengthening demand generation, maintaining consistent commodity supplies, and expanding training.