When we talk about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in emergencies, it does not really get to you until you see the reality on the ground, when people and communities come in their numbers, and gather to access these life-saving services. That is when you truly do recognize and appreciate the work that a humanitarian response brings to people who would have not been able to access this service even during normal times.
One of the signs of great feedback is that while we responded in remote communities in Moala, we ran out of the Jadelle contraceptive implant in the first week! We had packed contraceptive items according to women of reproductive age for the response however, we did not foresee that women in the communities would prefer Jadelle. We reached 6 villages in Moala, and at every village we conducted 6 to 7 insertions of this implant.
Before embarking on to the next few islands, we had to request additional contraceptive items to cater for the needs of women, which for us was an indication of the need as well as the effectiveness of the SRH awareness conducted in the communities. During this response we were also informed that the local hospitals had a lack of or no contraceptive commodities and other items available to cater to the needs of these women. This is also taking into account the geographical layout, distance and how costly it is for these women to reach the hospital to access SRH services.