Source: The Star
MORE than 50 per cent of men and women in urban areas have misconceptions about the use of family planning methods.
Sixty four per cent of men and women aged 15-49 years from Nairobi county believe that the use of contraceptives reduces sexual urge. The worrying statistics have exposed the gravity of the problem among rural population that is lowly endowed with information compared to their rural counterparts. This was revealed yesterday by a study conducted by Tupange Imarisha Maisha (Let us plan to improve quality of life) initiative that sought to assess the household knowledge and uptake of family planning measures.
Speaking at the launch of the 2010/2011 Urban Reproductive Health Household and Service Delivery reports, Public Health PS Mark Bor called for population control, saying it will affect the country's economic development, environmental conservation and food security. Vision 2030 highlights the importance of promoting family planning as a measure towards addressing and meeting the targets aimed at improving the quality of life countrywide.
In a speech read on his behalf by the head of Division of Reproductive Health Isaak Bashir, Bor said the government has set a goal of increasing the use of family planning to 56 per cent of women aged 15-49 years by 2015. The findings from five urban towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos and Kakamega reveal that cities have a 50 per cent youthful population that is highly mobile and relatively well educated.
It recommends the use of modern state-of-the-art, and well proven approaches that will create impact and raise contraceptives uptake among the youthful population in urban areas. "When mothers lack access to reproductive health and family planning information and services, the result is usually unplanned or unwanted pregnancies," Bor said. He attributed the numerous statistics in maternal mortality and unsafe abortion to unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, which he said result in reduced chances of education.
According to Kenya Demographic Health Survey, it is estimated that 3000 to 6000 women die annually from pregnancy related complications. Bor hailed the contraceptive prevalence rate, which he said has improved significantly from 2003 at 39 percent to 46 per cent in 2008, "and the total fertility rate reduced from 4.9 to 4.6."
KDHS information indicated that there is a gap between actual and desired family size. This means that more people felt that they were having more children than they desired. Bor regretted the deplorable state of 71 per cent [approximately 9.6 million] of the urban population who live in informal settlements that constitute 20 per cent of the total land cover. "In Kenya, it is estimated that the current 32 per cent of urban population will increase to 60 per cent by 2040, due to natural increase," Bor said, adding that high incidences of early sexual activity, poor access to reproductive health and family planning were among reasons for the upsurge.