Joy Wanja
4 November 2009
Nairobi — Kenya's fertility rate has declined slightly, according to a new report released on Wednesday.
Preliminary results of the 2008/2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) shows a marked improvement in the various health indicators.
Fertility rates declined from 4.9 births per woman in 2003 to 4.6, a reversal from the previous surveys.
This was attributed to an increase in contraceptive use among married women, either modern or traditional options.
Currently, the need for contraception in Kenya stands at 25 per cent, mainly due to myths, misconceptions, unavailability and cost of family planning methods at health facilities.
Though contraceptive security remains a major concern in the country, the results show that women in Central Province recorded the highest prevalence rate ( 67 per cent), while North Eastern Province had the lowest at four per cent.
Office of Prime Minister assistant minister Alfred Khang'ati applauded the newly released findings and called for concerted efforts to maintain the positive indicators.
"We are still far in achieving the agreed Millennium Development Goals, but we will get there eventually," he said during the launch of the report in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Mr Khang'ati called for focused approach to child and maternal care if Kenya is to register substantial growth in development.
The KDHS is a national sample study of almost 10,000 households carried out once every five years and involves men and women in the 15-49 age group and men aged between 15 and 54 years.
The survey was undertaken from November last year to February this year by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in collaboration with development partners.
Present at the launch was Planning permanent secretary Edward Sambili, KNBS director-general Anthony Kilele and KNBS director of population Collins Opiyo.
Other indicators also reported an increase in the number of children who received full vaccination, thereby resulting in a significant decrease in child and infant mortality.
The survey indicates that nine in 10 mothers consulted a health professional at least once for ante-natal care. Coverage in urban areas was higher than in rural areas at 96 per cent and 90 per cent respectively.
The consistent use of treated mosquito nets was also highlighted as one of the key achievements in efforts to reduce malaria prevalence in the country.
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