Improving provision of family planning among pastoralists in Kenya: perspectives from health care providers, community and religious leaders

Kenny, L, Bhatia, A, Lokot, M, Hassan, R, Hussein Aden, A, Muriuki, A, Ahmed Osman, I, Kanyuuru, L, Pryor, S, Bacchus, LJ, Cislaghi, B and Hossain, M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1878-8145, 2022. Improving provision of family planning among pastoralists in Kenya: perspectives from health care providers, community and religious leaders. Global Public Health, 17 (8), pp. 1594-1610. ISSN 1744-1692

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Abstract

There exist significant inequities in access to family planning (FP) in Kenya, particularly for nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists. Health care providers (HCP), are key in delivering FP services. Community leaders and religious leaders are also key influencers in women’s decisions to use FP. We found limited research exploring the perspectives of both HCPs and these local leaders in this context. We conducted semi-structured interviews with HCPs (n=4) working in facilities in Wajir and Mandera, and community leaders (n=4) and religious leaders (n=4) from the nomadic and semi-nomadic populations the facilities serve. We conducted deductive and inductive thematic analysis. Three overarching themes emerged: perception of FP as a health priority, explanations for low FP use, and recommendations to improve access. Four overlapping sub-themes explained low FP use: desire for large families, tension in FP decision-making, religion and culture, and fears about FP. Providers were from different socio-demographic backgrounds to the communities they served, who faced structural marginalisation from health and other services. Programmes to improve FP access should be delivered alongside interventions targeting the immediate health concerns of pastoralist communities, incorporating structural changes. HCPs that are aware of religious and cultural reasons for non-use, play a key role in improving access.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Global Public Health
Creators:	Kenny, L., Bhatia, A., Lokot, M., Hassan, R., Hussein Aden, A., Muriuki, A., Ahmed Osman, I., Kanyuuru, L., Pryor, S., Bacchus, L.J., Cislaghi, B. and Hossain, M.
Publisher:	Routledge
Date:	2022
Volume:	17
Number:	8
ISSN:	1744-1692
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/17441692.2021.1944263 DOI 1622337 Other
Rights:	© 2021 the author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	25 Nov 2022 16:31
Last Modified:	25 Nov 2022 16:31
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/47512

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