Contraceptive use in Nyanza Province

Abstract

This study exammes factors that influence contraceptive use in Nyanza province. These include education. employment, religion, ethnicity, exposure to mass media, spousal communication about family planning. age. marital status and number of children living. Nyanza province is of interest because of its' 100v level of current use of contraceptives which stands at 23.8%. The above contraceptive prevalence rate is unsatisfactory as it is below the national average. A comparison with other areas in Kenya namely Central. Nairobi and Eastern provinces which have high contraceptive prevalence rates that is 56%, 45% and 38% respectively. suggest that Siaya. 'Kisii and South Nyanza districts have indeed portrayed a poor performance as relates to their adoption of birth control methods. Such a study is thus necessary as its' findings will help formulate appropriate policies and programmes to increase contraceptive use. hence reduction of the high fertility rate in the study region.

This research uses data from the 1993 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. The operational framework developed by Bongaarts (1978) is adopted to guide the study. , Frequencies, cross tabulations. chi-square test and logistic regression are used to analyse the data. Employment status and religion were found to be statistically insignificantly related to contraceptive use. The proportion of women using any contraceptive method rises with the number of children living. This is evident in the logistic regression results. which shows that women with four and above children living were likely to contracept. compared to those with no children. The 40-49 age group too, was depicted as more likely to use modern contraceptives much more than other age groups. Marital status was however. negatively related to the use of any contraceptive method and the use of modern family planning methods. The currently and ever married women (widowed separated. divorce) were less likely to contracept. Socio-cultural factors that influence use of any contraceptives in Nyanza Province include ethnicity and mass media. The level of contraceptive use is slightly higher amongst the Kisii at 1.9056 than the LUGSat 0.8499. Likewise exposure to mass media programmes increases the likelihood of contraceptive use to 1.3966. As expected. education stands out as a very influential socio-economic variable in the use of modern contraceptives. Women with secondary education and above were more likely to use modern contraceptives much more than those with primary education and those with no education. Other than the above reasons for non-use of contraceptives in Nyanza province as mentioned in the 1993 KDHS include the desire to have more children. fear of side effects. menopause and hysterectomy, difficult, to get pregnant. lack of knowledge on application of certain family planning methods and religion. For contraceptive prevalence rate to be raised in Nyanza province the study recommends the following. that family planning education be made available in both formal and informal institutions. that family planning intervention programmes advocate for gradual change inclements of culture that negatively influence contraceptive use and that there is need for

empowerment of women through formal education and employment as these will have positive influence on fertility regulation.