ACCEPTABILITY AND DISCONTINUATION OF DEPO-PROVERA, IUCD AND COMBINED PILL IN KENYA

This paper reports on a prospective study conducted between June 1990 and June 1992 to determine method acceptability, user satisfaction and continuation rates for three highly effective and reversible contrace ptive methods currently available in Kenya: the CuT 380A (IUCD), the i njectable, Depo-Provera and the low dose oral contraceptive pill, Micr ogynon. A non-randomised sample of volunteer participants was used, On e thousand and seventy-six users were followed up for a period of one year or up to the time of discontinuation of the method, whichever cam e earlier, Analysis revealed method specific differences in users' cha racteristics, The OC users were younger and had fewer children than th e IUCD or Depo-Provera users, The Depo-Provera users were older, and h ad the largest family sizes, Many OC users (almost 40%) were single, w hile almost three-quarters of IUCD and Depo-Provera users were married , IUCD users were also more educated compared to OC and Depo-Provera u sers. Survival analysis was used to calculate cumulative life table di scontinuation rates by method for the 12 month period, Discontinuation rates were highest for OC users (80%) and lowest for IUCD users (20%) and intermediate for Depo-Provera users (39%), Ninety percent of OC a nd Depo-Provera users and 86% of IUCD users said they were satisfied w ith their respective methods, While OCs ape among the most popular fam ily planning methods in Kenya, they are also one of the most problemat ic, while IUCD has the fewest compliance problems. Service providers n eed to address the issue of high discontinuation rates among the young OC users.