•Since family planning has remained largely a women’s issue, they opt for a less conspicuous method on their own plan
• During the period under review, there was a general increase in the uptake of modern contraceptive methods.
The number of Kenyans opting for permanent family planning methods has been on the decline for the past five years.
Data from the Economic Survey released on Tuesday shows the number of women undergoing tubal ligation decreased by 17 per cent, while vasectomy uptake recorded 658 clients in 2019.
During the period under review, there was a general increase in the uptake of modern contraceptive methods.
From the report, even though the number of men opting for vasectomy grew from 282 clients in 2015 to a high of 919 in 2016, the uptake developed a downward trend of 807 in 2017 to 646 in 2018.
While women have many methods for preventing pregnancy, the options for men limited to condoms or getting a vasectomy.
People are tending to have larger families than they had before and so, they may be feeling it may not be important to close out child bearing foreverMary Njeri
The uptake for vasectomy is, however, rarely used by many men in Kenya. Some think it is castration, while others think it is a painful and libido-killing procedure.
Mary Njeri, a lawyer in sexual and reproductive health matters, says women tend to make their own decisions about their own child bearing. They, therefore. decide to remain in reproductive status for "quite some time".
“People are tending to have larger families than they had before and so, they may be feeling it may not be important to close out child bearing forever,” Njeri said on Saturday.
“In Kenya we are having a mix of things. We are having very young mothers but also mature mothers. If by 35 you already have two children and you have a permanent method, in case at 43 you want another, the permanent method may disadvantage you,” Njeri said.
In 2015, there were 7,607 women who undertook the procedure, and the uptake grew tremendously to 11,627 in 2016 before dropping to 9,149 in 2017.
It went up again in 2018 to 10,814 and eventually dropping to 8,971 last year.
The report, however, shows injections are still the most popular contraception method with over 2.5 million clients, followed by implants insertion at 733,000 clients in 2019.
“This is something that you take every three months. And noting that women have very many issues to deal with, it is easier.:\"
"You just have the injection on and for three months you don’t have to think about popping a pill,” Njeri said.
She added that it would be ideal if family planning issues were discussed in the family as opposed to the current situation where women sometimes tend to be on their own.
Since it has remained largely a women’s issue, they opt for a less conspicuous method on their own plan, she said.
The injection to most women also tends to provide some sort of security and is personal, is also said to be 99 per cent effective , is safe for breast feeding mothers and can be used without affecting other medications.
A Performance Monitoring and Action Family Planning Survey findings released in late February showed a decline in modern contraceptive prevalence rate among married women since 2015 from 62 per cent to 56 per cent.
“This means we have to interrogate our family planning programmes. That is why we are working closely with universities so that the students can be encouraged to do more research in some of these areas,” Prof Peter Gichangi , the Principal Investigator PMA Kenya, said.
Edited by E.Kibii