That majority of young women in Kenya dread getting pregnant more than HIV is no longer a perception but the sad reality following various reports that acknowledge that misuse of the emergencypill, also known as the Morning After Pill is on the rise amongst young women in Nairobi.

The emergency pill, as the name suggests, is a backup contraceptive that is meant to prevent an unwanted pregnancy after an “oops moment”; either after unprotected sex or if your contraceptive method has failed – for example, a condom has split or you’ve missed a pill, but young women in Nairobi are over using the E pill by taking it on a regular basis contrary to its indeed use.

Most pharmacists in the city and its outskirts will tell you that the popular emergency pill, Postinor 2 (P2, is the highest selling drug especially over the weekends.

EMERGENCY PILLS DON’T PREVENT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES

Postinor-2 Tablets is a brand of medicine containing the active ingredients levonorgestrel (progestogen-only contraceptives).

It is used to prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. It is estimated that Postinor-2 will prevent 85% of expected pregnancies. 95% of expected pregnancies will be prevented if taken within the first 24 hours.

“Postinor-2 will not prevent you from catching sexually transmitted diseases” reads a disclaimer on the pill’s package but despite this majority of women are still overlooking other risks associated with unprotected sex as long as they are not getting pregnant and are literally “popping the pill like candy”.

It’s therefore not surprising that a recent study revealed that Kenya is losing a high number of its youth to AIDS, as revealed by a new report which has listed AIDS as the number one cause of death and disability among young people in the country between the ages of 10-24 years.

‘How to Procure an Abortion’ is also top on the list of the things Kenyans search for in Google’s ‘How To’ category

Reproductive health officials continue to warn that misuse of the emergency pill can have long-term reproductive effects on women, including if used frequently they can disrupt the normal hormonal cycle of females giving rise to many complications like irregular bleeding, pain, exacerbation of premenstrual, ectopic pregnancy etc.