The International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Kenya to adopt family planning methods in order to achieve its development goals.
Via a working paper titled Exploring the Role of Public Expenditure in Advancing Female Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality published on May 24 the multilateral lender classified family planning as among the most cost-effective development interventions.
Apart from setting aside money for increased development activities, family planning was also seen as a critical intervention to saving mothers and reducing childbirth-related complications.
It was also indicated that the move would save the lives of infants and children.
“Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal could each increase per capita income by 8 to 13 per cent by meeting one-third of the unmet need for family planning in 2030,” the paper indicated.
The IMF paper noted that most of the money used for family planning came from international donors.
“In 69 countries tracked, nearly half (48 per cent) of family planning funding came from international donors, with 35 per cent from domestic governments and 17 per cent through out-of-pocket spending,” the paper read in part.
Arguing for the case of family planning in Kenya, the paper explained that in high-income countries, a woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death is at a low of one to 5,400.
This is a stark difference with Kenya and other developing nations where the lifetime risk is one in 45.
On how Kenya could access increased development opportunities, the paper revealed that the money spent on family planning would, in the long term, result in tangible economic benefits.
“Every USD1 spent on addressing unmet needs for contraceptives may yield USD120 in accrued health and economic benefits from reducing maternal and infant mortality and unintended pregnancies,” it was reported.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, Kenya aims to have 64 per cent of modern contraceptive prevalence rates (mCPR) by 2030.
