About 22% of adolescents in Kiambu county had sexual intercourse and or were sexually active between November and December 2020, a new survey has revealed.
57.0% of the girls and boys between 10-19 years said they had sex for the first time out of curiosity while 55.7 stated that they were carried away by emotions.
18.5 % of the adolescent respondents stated that they were forced into sexual intercourse against their will with 12.6 % saying that they were doing what was expected of them.
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In a research conducted by Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) between November to December 2020 and which attracted 770 respondents, 6.0% revealed they had sex under the influence of substance.
About 9% of the adolescents revealed having given birth while 3.1% of the adolescents were married and or living with a man as if married at the time of the survey.
At the same time, about 31 per cent of married women in Kiambu County are yet to adapt various family planning methods.
Although there has been a slight increase in the modern contraceptive prevalence rate since 2014 from 67 to 69 per cent by the end of 2020, a section of women from the expansive county is yet to give a positive approach to family planning.
Unlike in other counties such as West Pokot, Kakamega, Nandi, Bungoma, Kericho, Siaya, Nyamira, Nairobi, Kitui and Kilifi, Kiambu women have largely adopted a balanced method mix and embraced the use of implants, injectables and pills.
“Nearly 53% of the women received comprehensive family planning counselling which means there is work to be done for the others to receive that information,” the report read in sections.
The new survey findings revealed that about 47% of the women in the county have not been getting comprehensive information when receiving family planning services while 22% of family planning users do not discuss the decision to delay or avoid pregnancy with their partners.
Professor Peter Gichangi, the lead researcher in the findings while announcing the research results at a Juja hotel yesterday further revealed a notable improvement in stock level especially for the injectable and the pill.
“Kiambu women have more choice because the methods are available for them. Other counties are exclusively using implants, injectables with very little use of IUDs,” Gichangi said.
In the survey, however, only 56% of the Kiambu facilities that provide intrauterine devices (IUDs), a form of birth control that prevents implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus have a trained provider and instruments and or supplies needed for IUD insertion or removal.
About 22% of married women reported having experienced some Gender-Based Violence GBV in the last 12 months but only 27.5% of them sought help.
While the onset of Covid-19 resulted in devastation of many sectors including job losses and closure of businesses, the pandemic had less negative impact on the use of family planning methods in the county as most of them are readily available.
Davis Kamondo, the coordinator in charge of reproductive health services in Kiambu County while lauding the findings said that the devolved unit will embark on more sensitization and awareness programs to maintain the findings.
He said that the county will involve all stakeholders including the church, social service departments, learning institutions among others to influence maintenance and or betterment of the new findings.
“Our modern contraceptive prevalence rate is quite high and this is quite commendable. We have also been able to provide all the contraceptives in our facilities and we have different methods for family planning. We will continue to improve through the help of other stakeholders,” he said.
