Determinants of unintended pregnancy among women attending Kenyatta National Hospital Antenatal Care Clinic

Background. Unintended pregnancy is a public health problem that cuts across all the countries in the world due to its negative health and socio-economic outcomes to the mother, family, and society in general. It predisposes women of child-bearing age to risk factors like unsafe abortion, maternal deaths, malnutrition, mental illness because of stress, and vertical transmission of HIV. There is no representative information on its prevalence and correlates among women attending antenatal clinics in Nairobi, Kenya, hence the need for this study. Method. In a cross-sectional study design, data was collected using a structured, pretested and interviewer guided questionnaire from a sample size of 227 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. The prevalence of unintended pregnancies was calculated, and logit regression models were fitted to predict the correlates of unintended pregnancies. Results. In this study, a third (29.9%) of the pregnant women reported that their current pregnancy was unintended. Individual factors such as age less than 25 years [AOR 8.1 (95% CI 1.4-48.6)), p=0.001], use of contraceptive method [AOR 7.9 (95% CI 2.5-25.0), p<0.001] and the woman being the sole decision-maker on when to get pregnant [AOR 3.8 (95% CI 1.3-11.2), p=0.014] were independent predictors of unintended pregnancy. Conclusion. The study finding strongly highlights the need for reinforcing targeted contraceptive counselling during antenatal and postnatal clinics. Raise awareness on the benefits of Contraceptive to all mothers delivering in government health facilities to reduce unintended pregnancy.