STERILIZATION FAILURES IN VOLUNTARY FEMALE SURGICAL CONTRACEPTION

This was a prospective study on 1991 female tubal sterilisations perfo rmed in government and non-government clinics in Thika, Kenya, between January 1985 and December 1988. There were 10 sterilisation failures, giving a crude failure rate of 0.5%, 0.4% in the first year. Fifty pe rcent appeared to be luteal phase pregnancies, twenty percent had prev ious ectopic pregnancies and the ectopic site turned out to be patent. The failure rate for post-partum tubal ligation was 0.2%, and 0.3% fo r tubal ligation concomitant with caesarian section. The failure rate for Laparascopic fallope ring tubal ligation was 3.6% but the denomina tor was small. A client profile is presented. It is recommended that e ven in clients with previous ectopic pregnancy tubal ligation should b e, if possible, bilateral.