Impact of Place of Residence and Household Wealth on Contraceptive Use Patterns among Urban Women in Kenya

Laili Irani, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sian Curtis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kavita Singh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Urban Kenyan women have a 20.2% unmet contraceptive need. Discontinuation is a potentially significant factor. 36% of Kenyan women discontinue within a year, contributing to unwanted pregnancies and higher maternal morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, the urban poor population is also growing faster than other areas. They often live in informal settlements with few basic healthcare services and have a high unmet need. Hence we investigate the effect of residence and household wealth on contraceptive use patterns. We conducted a weighted population-based survey in five cities that included 7,728 women with contraceptive knowledge and ≥1 sexual encounter. Contraceptive use was categorized into current/former/never use, and current and former groups were further sub-classified into “only one method”, ”switched: less to more effective” and vice versa. Our results reveal that the urban poor and informal settlement dwellers discontinue contraception rather than having never used. Greater attention needs to be directed to this population.