"World Health Organization, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South African Medical Research Council"--Title page.

This book, first published in 1991, examines the effect of government policies and social restrictions on the reproductive behaviour and family life of the women of Kenya, especially the Kikuyu people. Importation of techniques for social and behavioural regulation from the developed nations, the social restructuring that followed the colonial intervention, the Mau Mau uprisings and current widespread concern with AIDS have disrupted traditional influences on Kenyan reproductive behaviour and family life. In response to these changes, women mobilised into a movement comprised of small local women’s groups scattered throughout Kenya that attempt to educate and influence both its members and government policy. The successes and failures of this movement offer important lessons for the rest of Africa and the developing world.

Although it is expected that Long-Acting and Permanent Methods of Contraception should be more acceptable owing to greater benefits, they have engendered considerable controversy. Political, ethical, and safety questions have emerged, stemming from the ways in which these contraceptives have been developed and used over the course of this century. At the heart of the concern is the issue of reproductive rights and freedom. While many researchers have assessed demographic and socio-cultural factors influencing contraceptive use in Africa, few attempts have been made to assess the same in Kenya. This book examines socio-economic and communication-based socio-cultural factors that can encourage or inhibit the up-take of LAPMs including problems associated with their use such as the prospects of new methods that are likely to emerge from ongoing research and development. It also examines the use and/or abuse of LAMPs and describes new reproductive health shifts. Thus this book will be especially useful to Medical and community health workers, community media workers and policy makers.

This booklet is based on the Estimates and Projections of Family Planning Indicators 2019, which includes estimates at the global, regional and country level of contraceptive prevalence, unmet need for family planning and SDG indicator 3.7.1 "Proportion of women who have their need for family planning satisfied by modern methods".