During the last 20 years, the proportion of married women who use modern contraception has almost doubled in Kenya. Today, 57 percent of women use modern contraception, and among unmarried women it is 58 percent, according to a new study. “Contraceptives prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions and complications at birth, which can end in death,” says Anne Gitimu on a line from the capital, Nairobi. She is program manager for reproductive health in Kenya for the NGO AMREF Africa, which works to improve access to and the quality of family planning in Kenya. “But first, it is a right for women themselves to decide whether, when and with whom, she wants to have children,” she says. More health clinics In the past 20 years, the number of health clinics has grown from 4,700 to 13,579 clinics, and are found in several parts of the country. “Health services have moved closer to citizens,” explains Anne Gitimu. The women can get help in far more health clinics, but there are still remote areas where they cannot reach out. That is why AMREF Africa works to reach nomadic people with health services and family planning using mobile clinics. They are working together with the Kenyan government, which has committed itself to achieving the global 2030 goal that everyone should have access to family planning. “When women have fewer children, they get an education to a greater extent. That way, they can better provide for their children, and that reduces poverty in the country,” she says. And in general things are progressing in the countries south of the Sahara. In 2000, 22 percent of married women used contraception, but in 2019 this had risen to 33 percent, according to the World Bank. “It’s about the development of a nation,” says Anne Gitimu. “But there is still a long way to go”.
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Far more women in Kenya use modern contraception: “It’s about the development of a nation”
