Analysis of contraceptive use among homeless women in Kenya – a case of Nairobi county

Abstract

Many factors influence the utilization of reproductive healthcare services in Kenya. Despite the effort by the government and other stakeholders to improve access and utilization of these services, there remains a major challenge in reaching out to marginalized segments of society. The study aims to examine the factors affecting the utilization of modern contraceptives by homeless women in Nairobi, Kenya, and draw policy recommendations based on the findings. The study utilized the logit model to analyze determinants of contraceptive utilization by homeless women in Nairobi using primary data collected from 196 households within Nairobi. The number of children per woman, age at first birth, living with a partner, drug abuse by the respondent, drug abuse by respondents’ partner, poverty, child planning, health facility delivery, neonatal death incidence, knowledge of male sterilization, never attending school, primary school attendance, secondary school attendance, operating of small business and contraceptive spending significantly affect the utilization of modern contraceptives by homeless women in Nairobi, Kenya. The majority of homeless women in Nairobi utilized injectibles (26.63%) and implants (24.07%) as a form of contraception. The government should therefore provide a contraceptive mix that incorporates these forms of contraception to ensure maximum utilization.

Keywords:

• health care services
• modern contraceptives

JEL Classifications:

• I12
• I14 & I15

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received funding support from the African Economic Research Consortium. Ethical clearance for the study came from the Institutional Ethics Committee at the University of Nairobi $ Kenyatta National Hospital (Approval number KNH-ERC/A/403), the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (License number NACOSTI/P/19/2491) and Nairobi County (Ref no CMO/NRB/OPR/VOL1-2/2019/143 * National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation Email: [email protected] * KNH-UoN Ethics Committee. Email: [email protected] *Nairobi County: County Health Service. Email: [email protected] *Department of Economic, University of Nairobi. Email: [email protected] *Lydia Cheruto Pkaremba (Researcher). Email: [email protected]

Notes on contributors

Lydia Cheruto Pkaremba

Lydia Pkaremba is a PhD. Student at the University of Nairobi’s school of Economics doing a doctorate course in Economics. She is a graduate of the University of Nairobi having completed a Masters in Economics and policy management course. She also holds a bachelors in Economics and Finance degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya. Ms. Pkaremba, is a beneficiary of the African Economic Research Consortium scholarship (AERC) that aims to incubate scholars and researchers to accomplished economists in sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Pkaremba is an entrepreneur in charge of Linkstakes consultancy limited, a consultancy firm that deals with capacity building and performance assessment. She has extensive experience in lecturing, consultancy and management. Her recent activities include working with public officials and county government of Kenya’s legislative assemblies and executive governments to improve capacity of counties in service delivery.

Ms. Pkaremba currently lectures at the University of Nairobi and Zetech University. Her areas of specialization include: Health economics, international economics, development economics, statistics and econometrics.

Ms. Pkaremba is a frequent speaker at municipal finance functions and is a member of the Institute of Economic affairs as well as the chair of the Linkstakes Fund Board. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and campaigns to eradicate female genital mutilation in Kenya in collaboration with the US Network against FGM.

Education & Credentials

PhD., University of Nairobi, 2017 to Date

M.A, (Economics), University of Nairobi, 2016

B.A., Kenyatta University.