Prevalence of Parental Bereavement Among Female Sex Workers (FSW) in Kibra, Kenya

Abstract

Female sex workers (FSW) residing in Kibra, Kenya, experience elevated exposure to adverse events, yet the prevalence of parental bereavement is not well characterized. This cross-sectional pilot study on 301 FSWs residing in Kibra, Kenya, found that 67.7% of these women were parentally bereaved. Significantly fewer parentally bereaved women reported historical use of condoms and emergency contraception compared to nonbereaved women, and older age of paternal bereavement was significantly associated with current contraceptive use. Prevalence rates of bereavement among this cohort are well over the national Kenyan average, and further research on the specific impact of bereavement is warranted.

Keywords:

• Female Sex Workers (FSW)
• parental bereavement
• reproductive health
• Kenya

Acknowledgments

We thank Edwina Achieng and Pamella Owino, Community Health Volunteers involved in mobilizing and sensitizing female sex workers to this study. Also, we posthumously acknowledge Julia Amayo, study co-investigator and the director of the Strategic Community Development Network (SACCODEN), who unfortunately passed on earlier this year.

Disclosure statement

All authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this study

Additional information

Funding

Kenya Medical Research Institute Internal Research Grant Number SP/IRG/01013

Notes on contributors

Christy A. Denckla

Christy A. Denckla, PhD is a clinical psychologist who holds joint appointments as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She conducts clinical work at the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights.

Linnet Ongeri

Linnet Ongeri, MD is a consultant psychiatrist and senior research officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Centre for Clinical Research, Nairobi, Kenya.

Linet Ouma

Linet Ouma is a Senior Nursing Officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute and a Study Nurse/Site Coordinator with the University of Washington.

Benson Singa

Benson Singa is a Research Officer at the Centre for Clinical Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Global Health.

Charity Maingi

Charity Maingi, MPH, is a Principal Nursing Officer and a Clinical Trials Coordinator at the Centre for Clinical Research in KEMRI.

Rose Bosire

Rose Bosire, MBChB, MPH, is a senior clinical research scientist at Kenya Medical Research Institute and honorary Lecturer at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Phelgona Otieno

Dr. Phelgona Otieno, MBChB, MPH is a pediatrician and epidemiologist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), where she acts as a principal research officer based at the Center for Clinical Research.

Danvers Omolo

Danvers Omolo is a Resilience Analyst and M&E Specialist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Southern Sudan.

David C. Henderson

David C. Henderson, MD is Psychiatrist-in-Chief in the Division of Psychiatry at Boston Medical Center and Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine.

Lori B. Chibnik

Lori B. Chibnik, PhD is an associate biostatistician with the Massachusetts Alzheimer's Disease Center and an Assistant Professor in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology and the Harvard Medical School Department of Medicine.

Karestan C. Koenen

Karestan C. Koenen, PhD is Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Veronica Manduku

Veronica Manduku, is a medical doctor, Senior researcher and Director at the Center for Clinical Research the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). She is also a consultant radiologist overseeing diagnostic imaging services at the radiology unit at the center.