Women in West Pokot County have been offered a collective Sh10.2 Million which is set to go towards family planning as a measure to curb the high fertility rate experienced in the county.
At 7.2 births per woman, the county has the second highest fertility rate in Kenya which is just 0.4 points shy of the global leader, Niger, which records 7.6 births per woman on average.
Population and Development Regional Coordinator Moses Ouma outlined that the County Government had found it prudent to allocate the millions to family planning in the county's budget for the new financial year.
He added that the decision was informed by the Kenya Health Demographic Survey of 2014 which established that only 1 out of 10 women in the county uses contraceptives.
The broken down budget showed that the money would be allocated to delivery services, advocacy, community mobilisation and other family planning programmes.
Experts attribute the high fertility rates in the bandit-prone county to cultural practices and lack of education.
Mr Ouma added that the funding would go a long way in helping reduce high teenage pregnancy rates as well.
Women in the county have also been encouraged to embrace child spacing which will enable them to manage their families properly.
According to the World Bank's current statistics, Kenya ranks 37th in the world with an average fertility rate of 4.3 births per woman.
