The Prevalence And Factors Associated With Teenage Pregnancy In Kenya; A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Teenage pregnancies account for 18% of all pregnancies in Kenya posing a health challenge in prevention of maternal mortalities, unsafe abortions and gender equity for these girls. The adolescent birth rate in Kenya is quite high at 96 live births per 1000 women compared to the global adolescent birth rate of 44.1 births per 1000 women. Projections indicate that the number of births for this age group is expected to rise worldwide by 2030 with the greatest contribution being from Africa. Teenage pregnancies interact with various contextual factors at individual, community, societal levels, health, education, social and economic outcomes and eventually impose a burden on economies and health systems in developing countries. This study is aimed to identify factors that contribute to the high incidence of teenage pregnancy irrespective of the interventions that have been introduced by the government to mitigate this phenomenon. Objective: To determine the prevalence and factors contributing to pregnancies among teenagers aged 15-19years in Kenya. Methodology: The study analyzed secondary data from a retrospective cross-sectional survey, the Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA2020) database from the 2014. A total of 503 participants were analyzed. Focused exploratory analysis was performed to obtain descriptive statistics and a Log-binomial regression model was used to determine the factors affecting teenage pregnancy in Kenya. Results: The analysis focused on 503 girls sampled from the PMA2020 database. Of these, 31% of the teenagers had a pregnancy history “ever pregnant”. The adjusted prevalence ratio of reporting a pregnancy history were greater for girls aged 18-19 years (PR=1.29), those with a secondary education were (PR=0.54) less likely to report a pregnancy compared to those with viii primary or college education, teenagers who had a history of contraceptive use (PR=1.34) were more likely to report a pregnancy history compared to those who had never used a contraceptive, those who had reported a sexual debut of 12-14 years (PR=0.76) or more than 15 years (PR=0.81) were less likely to report a pregnancy history compared to those aged 11 years and below. Conclusion: Findings from this study showed age of a teenager, education level attained, contraceptive use and age at first sex as important predictors in understanding what influence the occurrence of teenage pregnancy in Kenya. There is need for comprehensive sexual education to equip teenagers with information on safer sex in order to reduce the high prevalence of teenage pregnancy