Migori: Teenage pregnancy has been on the rise in Migori County in recent years, prompting health practitioners to pursue family planning methods to try to reverse the trend. According to health statistics availed in 2023, teenage pregnancies stood at 19 percent of all the pregnancy cases within the county. The 2023 statistics also showed that only 69 percent of reproductive women in Migori have been using contraceptives.
According to Kenya News Agency, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) such as Amref and Lwala Community Alliance, in collaboration with the government-funded programme ‘Beyond Zero Campaign’, have in the past years managed to boost the contraceptive uptake from 61 percent in 2021 to 69 percent in 2023. However, family planning (FP) methods have their critics. Anti-FP proponents argue that these methods bring about significant stigma on those who use them from the community, with shared myths that continue to limit their uptake.
Irene Oyuga, a Health practitioner at Midoti Health facility i
n Suna East Sub County, explains that the stigma around family planning in the community revolves around health endangerment, infertility that may lead to barrenness, and encouraging sexual immorality among teenagers. Oyuga affirms that family planning is safe and scientifically proven to cause no harm to reproductive women or lead to infertility among women.
Oyuga highlights the ongoing efforts in education campaigns and raising awareness on family planning to enlighten and sensitise the community, especially adolescents and youths, to understand and appreciate the importance of family planning and demystify the stigma and myths surrounding these methods. She also noted the training of health practitioners to guide youths and adolescents in the best possible usage of different family planning methods.
The introduction of integrated family planning services has enabled health providers to guide youths and adolescents on safe family planning methods, significantly reducing maternal deaths from postpartum ble
eding, uterus rupture, and cervical tears among teenage girls. Oyuga states, ‘The womb of a teenage girl is not ready to conceive because biologically the uterus is not yet matured enough to carry a baby, leading to maternal issues like uterus rupture and cervical tears that may lead to fistula.’
Through health initiatives like Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI), a project by the Johns Hopkins Programme for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO), Migori youth and adolescents have been benefiting from reproductive health services in the form of sensitisation on family planning and other incentives to assist them in strategies for their future lives. TCI has also been able to mentor and capacity-build health promoters to empower them in sensitisation and awareness creation.
Oyuga urges health partners to continue targeting school-going children to aid in sharing the message to teens to end the stigma that family planning brings sexual immorality among adolescents and youths. ‘School
s have closed for the long holiday that will last for more than two months, and it’s the responsibility of everyone in the community to ensure that teenagers are protected to curb teenage pregnancies,’ said Oyuga during a press interview in Migori town.
Lydia Atieno, a 21-year-old mother from Suna East Sub County, shares her experience, acknowledging that family planning methods have significantly aided her family in planning well and avoiding unnecessary pregnancies. However, she bemoans that although she had heard about family planning before becoming pregnant while in school, she was hesitant to use it due to myths like the belief that it could damage her uterus and make her barren.
Maryanne Merix, a 21-year-old student aspiring to be an accountant, credits her mother’s guidance on family planning methods for enabling her to complete her secondary education and avoid teenage pregnancy. ‘I want to thank my mother for supporting me and informing me about family planning methods. Many of my friends and peer
s were not so lucky as a significant number of them dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies,’ stated Merix.
Another teenage victim, 23-year-old Irene Awino, became pregnant while in form two but was able to resume and complete her Fourth Form after giving birth. Awino, now a volunteer social worker and a teenager mentor, has been using family planning methods, guiding her career choice to advise teenagers about the negatives of being a teenage mother.
Dorothy Minyiri, the Director of Community Resource and Empowerment Organisation (Creamo), stresses the importance of openness between partners regarding contraceptive usage to avoid mistrust in marriage. Creamo has been educating young mothers in Migori on family planning methods and offering necessary referrals. Minyiri encourages NGOs and development partners in reproductive health to understand their target cohorts to ensure successful contraceptive use.