Fertility In Kenya Research Articles

An Interpretation of Fertility and Population Policy in Kenya

After almost two decades of government-sponsored efforts to reduce population growth, Kenya's fertility level and rate of natural increase are both at peaks rarely attained in the recorded experience of national populations. Total fertility is close to eight births per woman; natural increase is about 4 percent per year. While the achievement of a sufficient pace of economic growth to permit improvement in per capita income despite this demographic expansion is noteworthy-many countries in the region did less well-the outcome from the standpoint of population policy has been a highly conspicuous failure. This article addresses three questions: Why is Kenya's fertility so high? What went wrong in the design or execution of the government's past efforts to lower fertility levels that rendered their effect thus far negligible? And what policy directions, starting from the present population and development situation, might be more effective? While these questions are simple, their answers are not. A response to the first question entails an appreciation of the economics of children and childraising in the Kenyan setting, of the social arrangements within which fertility-related decisions are made, and of the cultural configurations that can sustain patterns of fertility behavior in the face of what might appear strong objective reasons for change. The second question is not answered by a straightforward account of policy development and of difficulties encountered in implementation, although that is a necessary input. Rather, it calls also for assessment of the roads not taken, and judgment as to what opportunities there in fact were to modify fertility under realistic assumptions of administrative capacity and political feasibility. If indeed Kenyan realities would have defeated any plausible efforts to slow population growth over the last 20 years, no specific blame should accrue to the policies and programs actually adopted. And conversely.

Attitudes to family planning in Kenya: an anthropological approach

This paper reports on a study undertaken in Kenya on behalf of Oxfam to identify appropriate inputs to child spacing or birth control programs. The approach was sociological rather than medical and was designed to investigate: attitudes to child spacing and birth control in rural Kenya; the opinion-making forces which shaped these; and community-level needs and whether there was a role for Oxfam to play in helping to answer them. The fieldwork methods of the study are important because they are unusual in the population field. The research was perhaps unusual in that it was a fairly piece of work and as such was challenging to the researcher but was also regarded as useful afterwards by non-anthropologists. The prior existence of a great deal of excellent quantitative work on fertility in Kenya set the scene for the welcome of appropriate qualitative work. The rural fieldwork methods selected were very different from anything tried before in the family planning field in Kenya however the birth control field happens to fall squarely within traditional areas of anthropological expertise. The value of the report to users has been that it tackle ground left vacant by medical personnel and demographers--that which lies between technical expertise and more macro social sciences.

A Note on the Determinants of Breastfeeding Durations in an African Country.

Abstract This paper utilizes data from the 1977–78 Kenya Fertility Survey, one component of the World Fertility Survey, to analyze the determinants of breastfeeding durations for women 15 to 50 years old who had their last‐but‐one live birth between 3 and 15 years prior to the interview. Comparisons are made with the findings from the World Fertility Surveys in eight other developing countries in Asia and Latin America. Findings indicate that literacy, urban residence, secondary school education, and modern employment reduce the duration of breastfeeding in Kenya. In addition, the subgroups of women who appear to be curtailing breastfeeding are growing in proportional size or are composed of women who may be innovators or leaders. A continuation of this pattern into the future may increase levels of infant morbidity and mortality and, in the absence of increased modern contraceptive practice, may increase the societal level of fertility.

The persistence of high fertility in Kenya

Like many underdeveloped countries, Kenya's demographic structure is in a state of flux. Its annual population growth rate is now about 4% and half of the population is under 15 years of age. This rapid growth has put additional pressure on regional development in a country which is struggling to transform its predominantly agrarian economy into a modern one. Rural poverty is a persistent problem, life expectancy is depressed, and malnutrition is endemic in many parts of the country. Despite a national fertility control programme, contraceptive use in Kenya is almost negligible. The current family planning programme emphasizing maternal and child health care will have little impact on family size in the long term. The programme's basically coital contraception aimed at women runs against the complex individual and societal norms which control fertility in African communities. The paper presents one view of fertility differentials in Kenya and its relationship with the incidence of poverty. It posits that in the absence of broad-based socio-economic changes current efforts at fertility control will have few short-term benefits and hold little long-term promise.

A note on the determinants of breastfeeding durations in an African country.

Abstract This paper utilizes data from the 1977–78 Kenya Fertility Survey, one component of the World Fertility Survey, to analyze the determinants of breastfeeding durations for women 15 to 50 years old who had their last‐but‐one live birth between 3 and 15 years prior to the interview. Comparisons are made with the findings from the World Fertility Surveys in eight other developing countries in Asia and Latin America. Findings indicate that literacy, urban residence, secondary school education, and modern employment reduce the duration of breastfeeding in Kenya. In addition, the subgroups of women who appear to be curtailing breastfeeding are growing in proportional size or are composed of women who may be innovators or leaders. A continuation of this pattern into the future may increase levels of infant morbidity and mortality and, in the absence of increased modern contraceptive practice, may increase the societal level of fertility.

Bongaarts' proximate determinants of fertility applied to group data from the Kenya Fertility Survey 1977/78.

SummaryThe effect of the intermediate fertility variables on marital fertility in Kenya is examined using Bongaarts' model on group data from the Kenya Fertility Survey 1977/78. The findings suggest that variations in the proportion married among the population, level of contraceptive use and post-partum lactational infecundability can account for much but not all of the observed marital fertility differentials. Modernization through education and urbanization has had offsetting effects on fertility, by reducing lactation and increasing contraception. However, the proportion using contraception, limited mainly to those with secondary and higher education or metropolitan residence, is too small to have an appreciable impact on the overall level of fertility. The low level of marital fertility observed particularly among the metropolitan, coast and Muslim categories of population may be attributed to the prevalence of venereal diseases and unreported contraception and induced abortion.

Infant and Child Mortality in Rural Mali

Some new data on child mortality among 3 distinct ethnic groups resident in 2 distinct zones of rural Mali are presented. The data were gathered during a program of single round demographic surveys and both direct and indirect estimates of child mortality are presented. The bulk of the analysis is based on life table analysis of the maternity data. The data span a range of groups with contrasting ways of life. They include: sedentary Bambara millet farmers; the agro pastoral Fulani of the delta; the semi nomadic Seno Mango Fulani; and fully nomadic Kel Tamasheq who are dependent on their animals for their subsistence. The surveys were all conducted during 2 periods of fieldwork in the 1st half of 1981 and 1982. The quality of the birth history data collected in a single round survey among such populations with almost no exact idea of Western calendar years or months can be sufficiently good for a detailed analysis of child mortality using life table techniques. This is important for the future design of studies of child mortality in West Africa. Multi round surveys are always more expensive more complicated to run and take longer to produce results than single round surveys. In the groups surveyed in rural Mali the age pattern of child mortality with the exception of the Delta Fulani was different from the distinctive pattern identified by Cantrelle and Garenne for parts of rural Senegal and the Gambia. The proportion of all infants deaths occurring in the 1st month for the samples in Mali all of which were affected by the heaping of age at death around the 12th month ranged from 33% among the Delta Tamasheq to 51% among the Bambara. Data from the Kenya fertility survey in 1979 indicated an overall level of infant mortality of 106/1000. 42% of infant deaths reported in the survey occurred in the 1st month of life. For the 1st 6 months the spread of mortality experience was quite wide among the 5 main groups. For the succeeding period between 6-18 months the differentials collapsed except for the relatively high levels maintained by the Delta Fulani. Mortality between the 18th month and the 5th birthday was quite similar for the Bambara Gourma Tamasheq and the Seno Fulani with the extremes on the 1 hand by the Delta Fulani (high mortality) and on the other although less extremely by the Delta Tamasheq (low mortality).

An Empirical Analysis of Mortality Differentials in Kenya at the Macro and Micro Levels

Previous articleNext article No AccessAn Empirical Analysis of Mortality Differentials in Kenya at the Macro and Micro LevelsRichard Anker, and James C. KnowlesRichard Anker Search for more articles by this author , and James C. Knowles Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 29, Number 1Oct., 1980 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/451236 Views: 13Total views on this site Citations: 9Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1980 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Peter M. Macharia, Emanuele Giorgi, Pamela N. Thuranira, Noel K. Joseph, Benn Sartorius, Robert W. Snow, Emelda A. Okiro Sub national variation and inequalities in under-five mortality in Kenya since 1965, BMC Public Health 19, no.11 (Feb 2019).https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6474-1S. M. A Adelana Water and Human Health, (Apr 2005).https://doi.org/10.1002/047147844X.dw34John B. Casterline, Elizabeth C. Cooksey, Abdel Fattah E. Ismail Household income and child survival in Egypt, Demography 26, no.11 (Feb 1989): 15–35.https://doi.org/10.2307/2061491Stephen Charles Kaduuli Infant and Child Mortality in Eastern Africa: Causes and Differentials - A Review of the Literature, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 1988).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.986181Wilfred M. Mwangi, Germano M. Mwabu Economics of health and nutrition in Kenya, Social Science & Medicine 22, no.77 (Jan 1986): 775–780.https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(86)90230-3Alan Ferguson Women's health in a marginal area of Kenya, Social Science & Medicine 23, no.11 (Jan 1986): 17–29.https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(86)90320-5Isaac Sindiga The persistence of high fertility in Kenya, Social Science & Medicine 20, no.11 (Jan 1985): 71–84.https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(85)90314-4H. A. W. Van Vianen, J. K. Van Ginneken Analysis of demographic data collected in a rural area of Kenya, Journal of Biosocial Science 16, no.44 (Jul 2008): 463–473.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932000015297Robert Woods The structure of mortality in mid-nineteenth century England and Wales, Journal of Historical Geography 8, no.44 (Oct 1982): 373–394.https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-7488(82)90293-6