Introduction/ Objective

PMA Agile is a component of the Performance Monitoring for Action project and aimed at the subnational level (state, county or city). It builds on the PMA monitoring and evaluation platform and conducts continuous tracking of family planning service delivery and consumption through quarterly public and private health facility surveys and semi-annual client exit interviews. A phone follow-up survey is conducted with consenting female clients four months after their interviews. The project monitors the urban areas of three counties in Kenya, Kericho, Migori and Uasin Gishu, and is conducted by the International Centre for Reproductive Health-Kenya (ICRHK), in collaboration with The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Description

In June-August 2019, PMA Agile, a project within the PMA suite, and the International Centre for Reproductive Health Kenya (ICRHK) conducted the Youth Respondent-Driven Sampling Survey (YRDSS) among unmarried youth aged 15 to 24 years living in Nairobi, Kenya. The goals of the study were to collect information about awareness, use, and procurement of contraception among unmarried adolescents and youth, both female and male, and enable reach into a population and topic that may be otherwise hidden. YRDSS used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodology, a chain-based recruitment method in which study participants recruit their peers through numbered coupon distribution. Study “seeds” received coupons from study staff and started recruitment chains, in which subsequent recruits were also provided with up to three coupons each to recruit additional eligible youth into the study.

Key Findings

Most respondents felt that they could access contraceptive information (89%) and knew of a place where they could obtain contraception (84%)

• Healthcare providers were a highly preferred source of contraceptive information for both young men and women. Young women most preferred their mothers and young men also preferred health centers
• Knowledge of method efficacy in comparison to other methods was relatively low among male respondents
• Modern Contraceptive prevalence was lower among female respondents (37%) than male respondents (53%)
• Male condoms were most commonly reported main method for both male and female respondents (91% and 36 % respectively.
• Female contraceptives users reported a wider range of methods including more highly effective methods like implants and injectable
• Pharmacies and health centers are the main sources of contraceptive methods for both male and female users
• The majority (91%) of young men in the study procured their own contraceptives methods; however approximately one third of young women (34%) relied on their partners.