Incidence of induced abortion in Kenya, 2023

Kenneth Juma, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)
Esther Mutuku, African Population and Health Research Center
Caitlin Rich, Guttmacher Institute
Isaiah Akuku, African Population and Health Research Center
Margaret Giorgio, Guttmacher Institute
Yohannes Dibaba Wado, African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC)

The abortion landscape has shifted considerably since 2012 when the last abortion incidence study was conducted in Kenya. There is need for up-to-date data to effectively guide abortion policy and legislative discourses. We aim to estimate the incidence of induced abortions and examine the preparedness of health facilities for post-abortion care in Kenya. We utilized the abortion incidence and complication methodology, involving two key surveys; i) a nationally representative Health Facility Survey to estimate the number of women who received post-abortion care following abortion complications, and ii) a Knowledgeable Informants Survey to estimate the proportion of all women having abortions who receive facility-based treatment for abortion-related complications. We use the data to estimate abortion incidence and rates and summarized health facility capacity for post-abortion care. Preliminary findings show a national abortion incidence of 730,744, corresponding to an abortion rate of 52.8/1000 women of reproductive age, and with wide regional variations. Majority of post-abortion patients were treated in public and in primary-level facilities. Manual vacuum aspirations (70%) and medication abortion (20%) were most common uterine evacuation methods. Only 16% of primary-level facilities and 24% of referral-level facilities were capable of delivering all elements of basic and comprehensive post-abortion care services respectively.

Keywords: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Family Planning and Contraception, Fertility, Health and Morbidity

See extended abstract.