Family planning use increases to 68% in Kericho

Kericho county has increased use of family planning methods since 2014 from by 16 per cent, from 52 to 68 per cent, a recent survey shows.

Performance Monitoring for Action senior technical adviser Mary Thiongo said the improvement resulted from educating mothers of reproductive age. She called it a "great leap".

Family planning services increased from 56 per cent in 2019 to 61 per cent in 2020 in married women.

Accompanied by county health director Dr Betty Langat, Thiongo said family planning methods have improved greatly in Kericho county.

She said most women of reproductive age have responded positively to family planning methods since the programme started in Kericho seven years ago.

PMA is an international health survey organisation focusing on health, especially family planning and sanitation in Asia and Africa.

Langat said PMA targets women between the ages of 15 and 49 with information of family planning methods.

Some education and distribution is carried out in rural areas, some in county government facilities.

She said the same services are available in private hospitals.

Dr Langat deplored the high rates of unwanted pregnancies among schoolgirls.

She attributed these pregnancies to poverty as girls engage in commercial sex to raise money for sanitary towels and pads

Parents at home and in churches, Langat said, should advise girls about the dangers of selling sex to buy sanitary pads, mobile phones and other items.

“It’s the duty of parents and even churches to see these desperate girls get money from them to buy these items to avoid commercial sex ," she said.

(Editd by V. Graham)