Concerns raised over low use of birth control pills
Health experts in Migori County have expressed concerns over the minimal usage of birth control pills among the youth in Kuria region.
A report on a study carried out in the area and unveiled to the public recently painted a grim picture of how teenagers are contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and having unwanted pregnancies due to failure to embrace the call for family planning practices.
The report presented at a health forum on health challenges facing the local youth blames men and particularly male politicians from Kuria for the low uptake of family planning in the region.
However, figures from the latest Kenya Demographic and Health Survey indicate that only 44 percent of women in the entire county are using modern family planning methods with one percent using traditional methods with a fertility rate of 5.3 against the national standard of 3.9.
“One out of five girls aged 15 to 19 years who are sexually active in Kuria region are using a method of contraception,” George Ayoma, a senior officer at Afya Halisi project said while unveiling the report during a health forum held at Kegonga Hospital.
Ayoma faults male politicians from the Kuria community for failing to champion a strict absorption of reproductive health information and services by the youth despite the spirited campaigns laid out by the health experts in the region.
Political leaders
Political leaders have instead taken to glorifying the unfounded myth that women who use family planning become sexually active outside their marriage, fueling a rebellion against the use of family planning among couples in the community.
“The knowledge on family planning techniques is so low among the people in this community that even those who use contraceptives like condoms do not know how to use them properly leading to infections like HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases,” rued Ayoma.
Improper use of the contraceptives has also led to unwanted pregnancies and other birth complications among the users, the study adds in part.
However, the report calls for health experts to double efforts in imparting information about reproductive health regarding contraceptives use and their side effects for the sake of the safety of users and the general success of the intended outcome.
“Reproductive health issues and sex should be given first priority in education programs in schools and higher learning institutions as a way to sensitize the youth on their sexual life,” the study concludes in one part.
But the report regrets that Kuria men have since time immemorial wielded a bigger say over women in the use of the family planning, leading to the low rate of contraceptive use within the community.
Further, the campaigns for family planning acceptance have been highly politicized among the community that it has been viewed as denying politicians in the region votes to clinch elective positions within and outside the community.
Contraception is seen as a stumbling block to vote minting. Local politicians have always encouraged women in their respective clans to give birth to many off-springs to enable them get enough voters for themselves and at the same time increase the population size of the entire Kuria community to justify demands for their own county in the new constitutional dispensation.
Planning champions
However, Ayoma announced that within the community, they have since mentored about 100 family planning champions, mostly men and trained over 600 Community Health Volunteers towards convincing the local people to embrace the available family planning methods.
Through this effort, Afya Halisi, a non-governmental organisation championing a reproductive program in the area, has been convening community meetings of about 15 people in informal settings to encourage women to accept family planning methods with a view improving their health and income.
Among the champions KNA talked to was Mwita Gisunti, aged 54 years old, who confided in us that he started accepting use of family planning early enough.
The old man who married at age 22 has only four children as a result of taking seriously the methods of birth control.
He says his age mates who rebelled against taking the route of family planning are now finding it rough in life after giving birth to many children, some siring eight children, others 10 and above, thus piling huge financial and health problems on their families. – KNA
