NAIROBI — Will contraception make me infertile? What are my options for contraception? Is my cycle normal? As young women living in Nairobi, these are the kinds of questions 23-year-old Treazer Agutu, an agribusiness student at Kenyatta University, and her friends discuss.

Misconceptions around contraception that have swirled around the corners of polite conversation for decades still trickle into today’s society, and the taboo in Kenya tied to talking about family planning and “women’s issues” means such questions remain strictly “girl talk” and rarely make their way to parents or health practitioners who can provide accurate information and rectify misconceptions.

“It is taboo to discuss family-planning methods, and people then don't seek out the right information and make misinformed decisions about their planning for the future,” said Cynthia Kahumbura, marketing lead at Nivi — the organization behind askNivi, a digital platform launched in Kenya in 2017 with funding support from MSD for Mothers — adding that the general message from society is still to abstain from sexual activity.

The hush-hush nature of the topic means women lack reliable information about the affordability and availability of family-planning services provided in government clinics and pharmacies, as per Kenya’s national adolescent and sexual reproductive health policy from 2015, which seeks to expand adolescents’ access to modern contraceptives and comprehensive sexual education. Lack of awareness means women often don’t take up a method at all, said Kahumbura.

Cynthia Kahumbura of Nivi talks about family planning in Kenya and how the askNivi platform informs young people about sexual health.

Despite data to suggest that access to contraception may be able to reduce maternal deaths by a third, 214 million women worldwide don’t have their contraceptive needs met — and 21% of those women are living in sub-Saharan Africa.

In Kenya, data shows that 342 women die per 100,000 live births. Six counties out of the country’s 47 are responsible for half of Kenya’s maternal deaths. Adolescent girls in particular are at a higher risk of death as a result of pregnancy.

North Africa

40%

East Africa

27%

46%

West Africa

38%

Central Africa

66%

South Africa

Proportions of pregnancies that are unintended across African regions (2017)

Source: Guttmacher Institute

Agutu explained that one of the things she and her friends had heard was that using contraceptives frequently could cause infertility in the long term, meaning many of them decided not to use contraceptives at all.