Project profile — Access to Health Services for Women and Girls in Kinshasa

• Congo, Democratic Republic (100.00%)

• Basic Health: Basic health infrastructure (12230) (20.00%)
• Population policy and administrative management:
Population policy and administrative management (13010) (25.00%)
Reproductive health care (13020) (25.00%)
Family planning (13030) (20.00%)
Personnel development for population and reproductive health (13081) (10.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Nutrition (significant objective)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to offer greater availability and use of primary health care services, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH), such as maternal and newborn care, of women and girls in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The project also contributes to strengthening management of health centres and access to SRH services by women and girls, including family planning, contraceptive methods and post-abortion care. Project activities include: (1) providing ongoing training to health care providers, taking into account the specific needs of women and girls; (2) purchasing medical and non-medical equipment; (3) strengthening the system for procuring medicines; and (4) supporting health care personnel in order to increase their capacity to promote best practices and raise community awareness in order to promote the health and rights of women and girls.

Expected results for the project include: (1) improved quality and availability of health care services, especially sexual and reproductive health services, taking into account gender equality and the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls; and (2) increased use by women, children and adolescents of sexual and reproductive health services that take gender equality and the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls into account.

Results achieved at the end of the project ( March 2024) include: (1) trained 156 adolescent peer educators (including 81 adolescent girls) on sexual and reproductive health; (2) supported and trained management teams of 64 health facilities (57 health centers and 7 hospitals) to improve the availability and accessibility of contraceptives, medicines and inputs in support of sexual and reproductive health; (3) trained 928 healthcare providers (including 391 women) to offer a comprehensive package of sexual and reproductive health services. This includes awareness-raising on the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls; 213 service providers and non-care workers, including 94 women, received training in sexual and reproductive health services; and (4) provided treatment of sexually transmitted diseases in 29,707 cases of sexually transmitted infections to adolescents and youth (12,491 men and17,216 women) in rural areas and 71,670 (31,360 men and 40,310 women) in urban areas.

• Proactive disclosure