New research findings have revealed that contraceptives are the most common out-of-stock drugs at South African public clinics, placing women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health in jeopardy.
To close off Women's Month, the Stop Stockouts Project (SSP) released its latest survey results on medicine stockouts at public health clinics across South Africa.
The results revealed that medicines stockouts most acutely impact women and girls as contraceptives represent the biggest share of medicine stockouts in the public health system.
The survey, undertaken in April 2022 in collaboration with the Ritshidze project, indicates that stockouts of contraceptives (injectable contraceptives and oral birth control pills) represented 40% of all medicine stockouts reported.
“The survey indicates that while medicine stockouts have declined in comparison to previous SSP surveys conducted in 2013-2015 and 2017, stockouts continue to form a barrier to women's sexual and reproductive health rights,” SSP said.
The research also indicated that other commonly reported medicine stockouts include HIV medication at 16% of reported stockouts and pregnancy tests at 10% of reported stockouts.
“With endemic violence against women in South Africa, failure to meet our reproductive health needs is another stressor, as women without access to contraception are forced into a position of negotiating condom use, or risk an unplanned pregnancy. For some of the most vulnerable women in our country, this lack of access can be catastrophic,” said Dr Indira Govender of the Rural Doctors Association of South Africa (Rudasa).
The survey results also indicate that healthcare workers do their best to ensure patients do not leave empty handed.
“Women who take contraception have made a choice not to get pregnant. When supplies are not there, we take away their agency. It’s often risky to change from a long-acting method to a daily method and it can be costly and time consuming to women and girls to ensure future continuous access,” said Lucy O’Connell, a nurse and advisor at the Southern Africa Medical Unit of Doctors without Borders.
The SSP called on the National Department of Health to urgently address these issues in order to ensure that women and girls can always access their preferred contraceptive at any public health facility.
“Failure to prioritise access to contraceptives for all who wish to access them is a failure by the government to prioritise the lives of women and girls across the country. The Stop Stockouts Project urges rapid action and response from the government to urgently address this issue,” said SECTION27 legal researcher Baone Twala.
Twala added that women and girls are bearing the burden of the unavailability of contraceptives in South Africa.
“Inability to access contraceptives when needed can lead to unwanted pregnancies, which in turn can directly impact their physical and mental health, financial security, and ability to continue education or working,” said Twala.
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