By Ezra Abaga, Corporate Communications, PS Kenya.
For Mbodze Munga Chiro, uptake of family planning not only addressed her fear of getting pregnant again but gave her a chance to concentrate on raising her large family and ensured that her children went to school. Previously in their community, their family had constantly faced ridicule from friends and neighbours for having many children they couldn’t provide for.
When we met Mbodze at her home in Chasimba village in Kilifi County, the married mother of 19 children (first born is 34 years while the last born is 1 year 3 months) indicated that it had never been her wish to get as many. She felt she had no control over getting pregnant. “Providing for these children hasn’t been easy, considering we don’t have a regular source of income and only depend on small scale farming and help from well-wishers; it’s a day-to-day struggle, can’t afford meals nor bed space for all of them; some have to sleep at neighbours’ houses,” stated Mbodze.
Earlier after she got her sixth child, a friend, who had witnessed her plight advised her to consider using a family planning method to prevent her from getting more children. Taking the advice, she went to the clinic where after undergoing counselling and other pre-family planning tests, she was found unfit for a particular method due to being overweight. This would have been risky for her since it was the 3-year implant method she was considering. Frustrated because there was no follow-up system from the clinic, Mbodze gave up on family planning. This resulted in her 19 kids.
A visit by a community health worker after her 19th child however, enabled them to interact and led up to Mbodze deciding to use family planning. She had not reached the age of menopause and chose not to get pregnant again. She visited Chasimba health centre where after counselling and testing, she was found fit to now take a family planning method. Currently, family planning enables Mbodze, despite the related challenges, to work hard and ensure her children are well fed and go to school minus having to worry about a new pregnancy.
With a modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) of 33% compared to the national Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) of 53% (KDHS 2014), Kilifi County still has some missed opportunities for family planning that need to be addressed. PS Kenya through the Maverick Project (Project Riziki) in partnership with the County Government of Kilifi has been narrowing the gap of missed opportunities for family planning by increasing both quality and access of family planning methods at both the health facility and community level.
