By Bernard Muthaka
The Ministry of Health and Ipas, an NGO promoting women’s health and reproductive rights, last month conducted a community assessment in Busia, Bungoma, and Trans-Nzoia counties, to identify community knowledge, attitudes, practices and barriers to reproductive health, including abortion .
High travel costs
Among the reasons given by women for unintended pregnancies included high costs of family planning and travel costs to health facilities, poor attitude by providers and disapproval of contraceptive use by husbands.
Others said exposure to traditional ceremonies as well as social activities such as discos increased the likelihood to engage in spontaneous sex leading to unintended pregnancies.
There were also myths and misconceptions regarding how to avoid pregnancy, including sleeping with multiple sexual partners, lying on a heated rock and witchcraft.
All these clearly point to an urgent need for more education and availability of information on reproductive health.