Family planning utilization and correlates; perspective of women aged 15-49 years from Mandera County of North Eastern Kenya

Abstract

Background: Unmet need for modern family planning methods is an important health issue for women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate family planning awareness, utilization and associated factors among women aged 15-49 years from Mandera County, an arid part of North Eastern Kenya.

Methods: This cross sectional study randomly enrolled 117 eligible women from April to September 2015. Data was collected using structured questionnaire, key informant interviews (KII) and focused group discussions (FGD) guides. Up to 36 FDGs were conducted among women in health, leadership, education and religious sectors. 12 KIIs among influential and knowledgeable members of the county were also conducted to gather qualitative data. STATA version 11 was used for qualitative data analysis. The thematic content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.

Results: The mean age of the 117 women who responded was 29.9 (SD± 9.8) years. About 79.5% of these 117 women were aware of contraceptive and family planning methods mainly through family and friends (52.1%). Of the 41.9% who reported using family planning (FP) methods, 26.5% used condoms. In multivariate analysis, women who were from either the Northern (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 18.2), Southern (OR 7.5, 95% CI 1.7 to 33.4) or Eastern of Madera County (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 20.8); had either secondary (OR 11.1, 95% CI 2.7 to 46.1) or tertiary (OR 11.9, 95% CI 2.6 to 55.9) level of education; were employed (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.2 to 19.1); used either condoms (OR 5.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 24.5) or hormonal family planning methods (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 25.2) were independently associated with utilization of FP. The FGD and KII confirms the low level of utilization of FP. These discussions identified location of origin, awareness, income, employment, religion and cultural practices as some of the factors limiting the utilization of FP.

Conclusion: Remarkably, a high proportion of women from Mandera County; an arid, region in the North Eastern Kenya, were aware and embraced FP. If deterrents such as socio-cultural, lack of education and awareness are tackled, this region is poised to record one of the highest up take of modern family planning methods in Kenya.

Keywords: Family Planning, Utilization, Women of Reproductive Age.