Pins And Pills Are Vending Machines The Answer To Contraceptive Stockouts At Clinics?

Government clinics often run out of contraceptive medicines, which has been the case since 2015. The latest Stop Stockouts and Ritshidze report shows that planning problems, small budgets and poor record systems are part of the reason.

Could getting birth control pills or emergency contraception from a vending machine help, especially when young girls face frosty attitudes at clinics when asking for contraception in the first place?

Although there are certainly barriers to accessing modern contraceptives that need urgent attention, experts say a self-help system may not necessarily be the answer. Heres why.

In todays newsletter , senior health reporter Sipokazi Fokazi looks at a pilot project to help young people take charge of their sexual health. Sign up .

Why did high-ranking government officials huddle around a bright pink vending machine at the Mthatha Ultra City on the N2 in the Eastern Cape on an autumny Wednesday morning in April?

It wasnt to get crisps and Cokes.

Instead, they unveiled South Africas first vending machine from where someone can get things like condoms, lubricants, sanitary pads and HIV-test kits and in future, also birth control pills for free.

Four months since that launch, seven more dispensers have been added one in the Eastern Cape and six in KwaZulu-Natal, with five more planned to be placed in other provinces too before the end of March next year, says Foster Mohale, the national health departments spokesperson.