Trends in Inequalities in Use of Family Planning Among Women of Reproductive Age in Kenya
Abstract
This study focused on inequalities in use of family planning among women of reproductive age in
Kenya with the main objective of the study being to assess the performance and thus the
effectiveness of the national family planning programme. To assess the effectiveness of the FP
programme, emphasis was placed on the extent the programme had narrowed down the inequalities
gap by socioeconomic factors and by regions from the 2003 survey to the 2014 survey. This is a
departure from the usual methods that place emphasis on averages of contraceptive prevalence levels
and total fertility levels at the national level, to measure the effectiveness of the FP programme. The
study used secondary data. The data were derived from three national surveys in Kenya conducted in
the year 2003, the year 2008-09 and the year 2014. The survey captured information on background
characteristics and health issues from a sample of women from the reproductive ages of 15 to 49
years. The attention of this study was on fecund women in Kenya. Methods of data analysis used
were descriptive statistics, logistic regression and multilevel logistic regression. Bivariate analysis
was used to test for associations between the dependent variable and independent variables through
cross-tabulation and the Chi-square statistic. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate
the crude coverage gap with multilevel logistic regression being conducted to estimate the adjusted
coverage gap by background factors among fecund women in Kenya. The technique was deployed to
determine the extent of the inequality gap after controlling for confounding. This study established
that the percentage of women using contraceptives significantly increased from the year 2003 to the
2014 survey. The most preferred contraceptive methods were the modern ones such as injections and
pills with their sources being from government clinics or pharmacies and private clinics. Also,
background characteristics at the individual, community and family planning programme level were
seen to have a significant effect on modern contraceptive use by women. Results from the three
surveys have confirmed that the direction of the national family planning programme's performance
in increasing contraceptive use among women is positive-from 28 per cent in the 2003 survey, 30 per
cent in 2008/09 survey and 39 per cent in 2014 survey. Background characteristics of a woman such
as age, marital status, education, wealth index, employment status, region and place of residence
were found to have a significant influence on use. Additionally, women who heard information on
family planning through radio and television were more likely to use contraceptives compared to
those who read newspapers/magazines. However, despite the improved use over time even by
background characteristics, inequalities in use by socio-economic factors still exist in all the three
surveys. Inequalities in modern contraceptive use were therefore found to be an important indicator
to consider in assessing the performance and thus the effectiveness of the FP programme.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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