Abstract
Background: Studies show a gap in addressing the reproductive health goals of younger women whose inconsistent use of contraception is high in spite of their great need for it. The women aged 15-24 present high potential for unintended pregnancy and increase the challenge for retention of users which is key in maintaining and pushing up the current gains in contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). Objective: The objective of the study was to examine trends in contraceptive method choice for young women aged 15-24 years using modern methods and to determine factors associated with their choices. Methods: The study used data from KDHS of 2003, 2008/9 and 2014 in descriptive analysis and logistic regression to determine the socio-economic variables that influence the choice of contraceptive methods for young women. Results: Results showed a general shift in use towards long term modern contraceptives with the shift being more pronounced among young women with primary education, from rural areas, lower wealth households, and low contraceptive use regions. Women with secondary education and higher wealth status are shifting towards short term methods. Findings confirmed socio-demographic factors of age, education, wealth status and type of region as predictors of contraceptive use. Conclusions: Contraceptive information and services should be enhanced for young women to make informed choices concerning their reproductive and sexual health to enable them complete school and transition to colleges to acquire relevant skills that will make them optimally productive and lead Kenya to achieving the demographic dividend.
Highlights
Kenya has invested considerable resources towards improving adolescent sexual reproductive health (ASRH) and has in place the 2015 National Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (NASRH) Policy; the rates of teenage pregnancies do not reflect these heavy investments and are a matter of public health and social concern
What do the results mean for Kenya? The study results generally indicate success for the aggressive Kenyan family planning program and FP2020 campaigns and existence of great potential for scaling up use of long-term methods among the study group
Results from the study have provided a useful profile of young modern contraceptive users and established a general pattern of their contraceptive use
Summary
Kenya has invested considerable resources towards improving adolescent sexual reproductive health (ASRH) and has in place the 2015 National Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (NASRH) Policy; the rates of teenage pregnancies do not reflect these heavy investments and are a matter of public health and social concern. Studies show a gap in addressing the reproductive health goals of younger women whose inconsistent use of contraception is high in spite of their great need for it. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine trends in contraceptive method choice for young women aged 15-24 years using modern methods and to determine factors associated with their choices. Findings confirmed socio-demographic factors of age, education, wealth status and type of region as predictors of contraceptive use. Conclusions: Contraceptive information and services should be enhanced for young women to make informed choices concerning their reproductive and sexual health to enable them complete school and transition to colleges to acquire relevant skills that will make them optimally productive and lead Kenya to achieving the demographic dividend
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
