Contraceptives: Myths and misconceptions

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding family planning methods that many women would rather risk their lives than use them. NJOKI CHEGE explores the touchy debate

The government and non-governmental organisations have pumped so much energy and money to preach the message of contraception because reproductive health is at the very heart of development.

But as the world marked World Population Day last Wednesday a UN report on the ground painted a depressing picture.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says in as much as universal access to reproductive health by 2015 is one of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, most developing nations still have a long way to go.

UNFPA says some 222 million women worldwide who would like to avoid or delay pregnancy lack access to effective family planning.

Locally, a recent report shows that women are still making uninformed decisions based on myths and misconceptions.

The study by Tupange-Kenya Urban Reproductive Health Initiative conducted in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Machakos and Kakamega paints a grim picture: That in this day and age women are still operating under a spell of myths and misconceptions about contraceptives, which has watered down efforts to promote its use.

Margaret Kilonzo, a Nairobi-based programme manager at Tupange, says 95 per cent of the women interviewed have knowledge mixed with misconceptions on the use of contraception.

For instance, in Nairobi, myths and misconceptions about family planning are widespread, with close to 80 per cent of women surveyed believing that users of family planning end up with serious health problems.

Myths and misconceptions

Some of the misconceptions include rumours that contraceptives reduce a woman’s libido, make her add weight or harm her health.

While it is not contested that all drugs, including contraceptives have side effects, medics agree that this notion has been blown out of proportion.

“In the pharmaceutical world, no drug is minus side effects, even painkillers. Women need to make intelligent decisions when choosing a family planning method and to tolerate the minor side effects that come with it,” says Jyoti Dhiman of Tupange.

Kenyatta National Hospital head of Obstetrics and Gyneacology Dr John Ongech, agrees that there is a lot of misinformation on the side effects of contraceptives.

Unmet need

“The truth is that contraceptives are safe because they are tailor-made for each woman, depending on her health conditions. All medicines have side effects and women must realise that a contraceptive that worked for one woman won’t work for another,” says Dr Ong’ech.

The report also shows that unmet need is another big challenge in the rollout of reproductive health services.

Paul Nyachae, a technical officer at the Tupange, says this is highest in the poorest of populations, which declined steadily as wealth increased.

“This suggests that women are not accessing the services they want and need, with poor women being the most affected,” says Nyachae.

The report focused on the urban poor because these settlements have the highest population with rapid growth. In Nairobi alone, only 30 per cent of women in the poor population use contraceptives, with a slightly higher 40 per cent of women in the rich population using birth control methods.

The lowest figure was in Mombasa, where a paltry 23 per cent of the urban poor use family planning and 28 per cent in the rich population.

Other barriers surrounding contraceptive uptake include socio-cultural and religious setbacks.

The supply chain in the health system is another barrier. Until recently, Kenya relied on donors to supply contraception, and the commodity was not readily available.

In most cases, the only method of family planning available in the health system was not the preferred one, which served as a turn-off to many women.

In the survey, only a small number of women reported that they received information about their family planning method choice from the service provider.

George Kahuthia, a senior communication advisor at Tupange, confirms that service delivery is one of the major impediments in the use of contraceptives.

“There is need for training and updating health workers on proper use of family planning. Some health workers fuel misconceptions,” says Kahuthia.

The survey further reveals that the highest numbers of users of modern methods were women aged between 30 to 34 years while the highest number of non-users (over 80 per cent) is women under the age of 19 years.

Youth and sex

The study shows that while many young people engage in sex from an early age, service providers are hesitant to administer it to them. To counter this, most youth have resorted to the emergency contraceptive (E-pill), which could cause them more harm good.

“Today, sex among youth is taken as casually as a cup of coffee. Their greatest fear is not sexually transmitted infections, but pregnancy.

To them, the easiest way out is the E-pill, since they have little access to contraception. What they don’t know is that these pills have high hormonal imbalance and can interfere with their health,” Dr Ong’ech warns.

Most contraceptives work by halting ovulation hence introducing pills to a young system disrupts one’s reproductive physiology.

“E-pill is not for every use because it causes hormonal imbalance. The best option for youth is to abstain,” concludes Dr Ong’ech.