About Barriers for Young People Accessing Contraception at Pharmacies

Nana's Project

Nana is exploring the inaccessibility of contraception at local pharmacies for married and unmarried young women in Cairo, Egypt. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with young people and pharmacists, Nana is collecting data on how attitudes and barriers may dissuade young people from using contraception. Nana will use her findings to make recommendations to policymakers on how to make pharmacy services more youth-friendly.

Through her project, Nana will:

• Create a website in Arabic to share young people's stories and raise awareness about the barriers that young people face when accessing contraception at pharmacies
• Produce a short video highlighting testimonials about 5 young people's experiences accessing contraception
• Communicate findings to major Arabic sexual and reproductive health online portals in Egypt

About Nana

Nana was motivated by patriarchal structures in her community to question the nature of gender roles and violence from a young age. While studying English and Italian at Ain Shams University in Cairo, she volunteered for an NGO called A Better World, carrying out an awareness campaign against sexual harassment. She also studied fertility and its social role in rural households while living in India. After moving back to Cairo, Nana resumed her work as a freelance interpreter, working closely with scholars and journalists on topics including sexual harassment and domestic violence.

Since the Egyptian uprising, Nana has become increasingly interested in social work and civic society, and is working for an NGO named Etijah, focusing on youth and development projects, including issuing national identity cards for five million women in 10 governorates, and training grassroots workers on sexual and reproductive health.