The Mumbwa Local MeTA Network (LMN) organised its first Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) activity visiting the Urban Clinic in Mumbwa district. The LMN's visit to the urban clinic on 1 November 2017 had two objectives, namely, to interact with women of various age groups of child bearing age that visit the clinic for SRH services and to engage health personnel at the clinic to understand issues surrounding SRH services and what they offered at the institution.

The LMN interviewed clients and couples at the clinic to find out what various methods they use in family planning. The team interviewed a randomly selected group of women who came to seek contraceptive services and was assisted by the sister in charge at the clinic.

A number of contraceptive methods are being provided at Mumbwa urban clinic and they can be categorized by mode of operation, whether they are traditional or modern, and whether they are provider or user dependent.

The main methods of contraception used in family planning are oral contraception (combined pills, progesterone-only pills and emergency contraception pills), non-oral contraceptives (progesterone only injectable, contraceptive implant and the patch), barriers contraception (male condom and female condom), intrauterine devices (IUDs), male and female sterilization and natural family planning.

Under these categories the team found that Depo-Provera is the favorite contraceptive method used by many couples who access these services at the clinic. This was followed by

pills, then condoms, and finally natural family planning method.

The LMN team also found that condoms seemed to be regarded as the best method when the risks and benefits were considered because they were the only method that protected the users from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

As part of the first outcome over thirty (30) women accessing SRH services at the clinic were reached and engaged in discussion. The team, as its second outcome, also met management and health personnel at the clinic who gave the team some statistics of the clinic's activities.

The urban clinic, the LMN team was told, caters for a total population of 20,991 with 4,639 are aged between 15 – 49 and are women within the child bearing age group. They were also told that the institution has, as at November 2017, a record of 902 pregnant women and that about 875 deliveries were handled in the second and third quarter.