The knowledge of choosing or using the right contraceptive method is not common to all especially the youth in Kenya.
On my visit to Pumwani Hospital, Nairobi a few months ago I met Irine Mokaya,20 at the prenatal clinic and she was expecting to deliver her firstborn in two months.
Mokaya revealed that she had never tried using any type of contraception and had no idea how it worked.
“I just came here for my antenatal check-ups which I have been doing monthly. I do hear my friends talking about taking contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancy but for me, it was already too late when I heard the news,” she says shying off from her colleagues at the clinic.
I led her to the family planning section where she met a nurse who explained how she could start using contraception after delivering her baby.
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“I feel like the ignorance is taken out from me, if I had known this earlier then I would have not conceived at this age,” she says.
At the time of publishing the story, I got in touch with Mokaya and she proudly told me that she had delivered her baby safely and had taken the chance to use the family planning method.
Mokaya is among several women ignorant of family planning use since this is still a challenge faced by many women.
According to a report launched by FP2030 on family planning and gender equality, more women have begun embracing modern family planning methods.
"This year’s report comes at a critical time in our movement. We are at the intersection of several crises: globally, 800 women are dying every day in childbirth. 218 million women in the global south countries have an unmet need for modern contraception - meaning they want to avoid a pregnancy but are not using a modern method," said Dr. Samukeliso Dube, FP2030 Executive Director.
The report launched in Washington DC is the first to fully reflect the impact of FP2030’s move to decentralize from one secretariat to five regional hubs in Kenya, Nigeria, Malaysia; and Panama; to ensure that the partnership is driven by regional priorities.
The report further revealed that in the 85 countries reviewed, there are over 1b women of reproductive age an estimated 377 million of those women are using a modern method of contraception.
Dube said that the movement for rights-based family planning is an integral part of the global push for gender equality.
Implying that gender is at the root of every person’s ability to make and carry out decisions about sex, contraception, and sexual and reproductive health.
As the global push for gender equality gains strength, FP2030 affirms the central importance of rights-based, gender-transformative family planning.
The report shows that contraceptive use has continued to grow, and more women are using more modern methods than ever before.
The number of women using modern contraception has grown by 92 million since the outset of the FP2030 partnership in 2012.
Consequently, the use of modern contraception has averted 141 million unplanned pregnancies, 30 million unsafe abortions, and 141,000 maternal deaths in 2023.