Awareness and Perceptions of Emergency Contraceptive Pills Among Women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Hernandez, Julie; Muanda, Mbadu; Garcia, Melissa; Matawa, Grace

doi:10.1363/43e4417

Cited by 9 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Another quantitative survey showed that the majority (54%) of unmarried sexually active youth did not use contraception because they were not married [ 25 ]. A qualitative study in the DRC among women aged 15–35 years revealed that women frequently used deworming or anti-malarial medicines after sex as a form of emergency contraception [ 26 ]. Similar to young people in our study, qualitative research from Eastern DRC among adults yielded highly similar results to the current study on SRH themes [ 27 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and young people in urban and rural DR Congo

et al. 2018

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BackgroundIn the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), onset of sexual intercourse is initiated during adolescence, however only two in ten sexually active unmarried women are using modern contraception. Improving adolescents’ and young peoples’ knowledge and practices related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is necessary to improve health outcomes. However, little is known about the SRH attitudes and needs among young people in the DRC. The study aims to contribute to the available evidence by examining adolescents’ and young people’s insights on their cultural norms, practices and attitudes towards SRH services.MethodsFourteen focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 224 adolescents and young people aged 15–24 years in urban and rural areas of the DRC. The topics discussed and age groups of participants differed somewhat in the urban and rural areas. Data were analyzed to identify themes in the participants’ discussion of their attitudes towards SRH.ResultsRegardless of age differences, common themes emerged. Both in rural and urban areas premarital sex was largely sanctioned by peers but not adults; adolescents feared pregnancy and had limited knowledge of contraceptive methods. Many were misinformed that certain common pharmaceutical products (e.g., decaris) prevent pregnancy. Key barriers to accessing contraception from health facilities and pharmacies included shame and stigma; urban participants also cited cost and judgmental attitudes of health providers.ConclusionAddressing the SRH needs of adolescents and young people can have life-long protective benefits. Increasingly decision-makers and gatekeepers in the DRC are accepting the concept of providing SRH services and information to young people. This study shows the pressing need for information and services for young people in both urban and rural areas. The continued expansion SRH programming to all health zones and the developed of the National Strategic Plan for Health and Wellbeing of Adolescents and Youth 2016–2020 are steps toward that goal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and young people in urban and rural DR Congo

et al. 2018

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“…This change should be complemented by the expansion of the method mix offered by CBDs, which in AcQual 3 will include DMPA-SC (Sayana Press) and emergency contraceptive pills, both in high demand and retailed at higher prices than other community-level methods. The addition of these 2 methods to the CBDs' method mix stems from separate Tulane-led research outlining the opportunities for community-based provision of these methods, 16 , 17 and illustrate how pilot studies and operational research (such as this process evaluation) can be leveraged to improve program design and implementation 18 …”

Section: Discussion and Resulting Changes To The Acqual Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of a Large-Scale Community-Based Contraceptive Distribution Program in Kinshasa, DRC Based on Process Evaluation

Hernandez

Akilimali

Muanda

et al. 2018

Glob Health Sci Pract

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Midterm process evaluation results indicated that design and implementation failures hindered the program's success, notably: (1) the short-acting methods provided by community-based distributors (CBDs) offered limited choice; (2) the nominal revenue retained from selling the methods provided limited motivation for the volunteer CBDs; and (3) the model was poorly coordinated with the existing clinical service system, partly because of challenging systems issues. In the revised model, the CBDs will also provide subcutaneous injectables and emergency contraceptive pills, retain more revenue from contraceptive sales, and have better interaction with the existing system including conducting monthly mini-campaigns to increase visibility and attract more clients.

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“…Levamisole, which is a drug normally indicated against roundworms, is commonly used among youth in Kinshasa as a contraceptive in 70.2% of self-medication cases; it is used after unprotected intercourse to prevent an unwanted pregnancy [5,6]. The mechanism of action used for this drug is not known but its use is motivated by the fact that this drug is contraindicated in pregnancy, leading girls to believe that this drug can be used as an abortifacient.…”

Section: Levamisole Tabletmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mechanism of action used for this drug is not known but its use is motivated by the fact that this drug is contraindicated in pregnancy, leading girls to believe that this drug can be used as an abortifacient. In 75.9% of selfmedication cases, the doses used are higher than the usual doses, increasing by this way the health risk of intoxication [5,15].…”

Section: Levamisole Tabletmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several previous studies conducted in DRC reported the misuse of certain drugs taken individually. Among these, we can cite for example studies conducted on Cyproheptadine, Emergency contraceptive pill (ECP), Dexamethasone tablets and Amoxicillin capsule [2][3][4][5][6]. To our best knowledge, no study has focused on a list of drugs often used through self-medication among youth population in Kinshasa.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Potential Impact of Self-medication and Drug Misuse Practice Among Youth Population in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Katengele¹,

Kiniati²,

Nkanga³

et al. 2021

AJBLS

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Self-medication refers to the act of medicating oneself with no guidance from a physician. There are sevral factors that promote self-medication along with drug misuse among the population. In the frame of developing countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), these factors include lack of enforcement of laws governing the pharmaceutical sector, poor mindset of the population as well as easy access to drugs without official medical prescriptions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent to which self-medication and drug misuse practices affect the youth Congolese population health in the DRC's capital city, Kinshasa. Three sectors of Kinshasa were selected for a cross-sectional study conducted for five months (January to Mai 2020). Pharmacists or their auxiliairies were asked to draw up the list of ten drugs often purchased without medical prescriptions. In each of the selected pharmacies, 3 patients using self-medication were interviewed. A total of 120 phrarmacists or their auxiliairies and 360 patients (180 men and 180 women) were selected using systematic random sampling technique. Of the 120 questionnaires completed, a list of ten most used drugs in self-medication was established in the following dicreasing quantitative order: 106, 85, 83, 66, 66, 58, 51, 38, 29 and 23 pharmacists or their auxiliairies cited Amoxicillin capsule, Emergency Contraceptive Pill tablet, Paracetamol tablet, Dexamethasone tablet, Cyproheptadine tablet, Tetracyclin capsule, Levamisole tablet, Albendazole tablet, Quinine and Diclofenac injectables, respectively. Out of 360 questionnaires distributed, all medicines were administered by the route recommended by the physician except Dexamethasone tablet, Cyproheptadine tablet and Diclofenac injection where in 30.1%, 38.1% and 89.7% of selfmedication cases the route of administration was other than the recommended route. From the recorded data, the age of most patients varied between 15-24 years old. Girls were more in self-medication than boys. Sometimes, the disease for which the drug was used, as well as the dosing, were found to be different from the instructions in patients' leaflet. And lastly, for most patients, the main source of information was family and/or friends. This study demonstrated that the practice of self-medication is very widespread in Kinshasa, unfortunately even antibiotics are misused, exposing the population to high risk of antimicrobial resistance development. The present findings encourage further investigations at national level to better advise the dicision makers to take appropriate measures to substantially mitigate self-medication and drug misuse practices.

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Awareness and Perceptions of Emergency Contraceptive Pills Among Women in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cited by 9 publications

References 17 publications

Attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and young people in urban and rural DR Congo

Attitudes toward sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and young people in urban and rural DR Congo

Evolution of a Large-Scale Community-Based Contraceptive Distribution Program in Kinshasa, DRC Based on Process Evaluation

The Potential Impact of Self-medication and Drug Misuse Practice Among Youth Population in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

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