Prevalence and determinants of uptake of emergency contraceptive pills among the youth in Kikambala, Kilifi county
Abstract
In Kenya maternal mortality rate is very high.
T
he Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey (2008
-
2009) reported a maternal mortality ratio of 488 per 100,000 live births.
The use of contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies and unsafe aborti
on is an
important strategy to minimize maternal mortality ratio. Among various forms of
contraception, emergency contraceptives are the only ones that can be used
within 120
hours
after unprotected sexual intercourse t
o prevent unintended pregnancy.
The a
im of
this study was to identify the determinants and prevalence rate of uptake emergency
contraceptive pills among female youth in Kikambala divi
sion, Kilifi County, Kenya.
To achieve the above goal
,
a cross
-
sectional survey was carried out and data on th
e
socio
-
demographic characteristics of the respondents, sexual and reproductive health
behaviour, the knowledge and uptake of emergency contraceptive pills was obtained.
A
sample of 402 female youth aged between 15 and 29 years living within
Kikambala
divi
sion were randomly selected. Data was collected using questionnaires and analysis
of the data was conducted using SPSS version 22. Chi
-
square test of significance was
used to establish the association between the outcome variable and the predictor
variable
s.
The average age of the female youth was 22.3 years with a standard deviation
of 4.09.
Slightly above
a
half 55.7%
of the respondents were married. The level of
education was low with only 17.6% of the respondents
with
secondary and tertiary
education
le
vels
. Almost
a
half of the study population 45% had no occupation. Nearly
all the respondents
87.1%
reported to be in a sexual relationship
.
The prevalence of use
of emergency contraceptive pills was 13.4% and only 34.3% of the
study population
had
knowled
ge on emergency contraception. Determinants of usage of ECPs were ag
e,
educational level
,
history of induced abortion
,
alcohol
use
and
the
level of knowle
dge
on emergency contraceptives
.
There is need for increased awareness on emergency
contraception so a
s to increase the uptake of the pills. This will be instrumental in
reducing the occurrence of unintended pregnancies and consequences of abortion.
The
Ministry of Health in partnership with other stakeholders should enhance the school
health policy so tha
t the pupils/students, both boys and girls, are properly guided on
sexual and reproductive health issues which they may encounter as they grow up
Publisher
University of Nairobi