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Family Planning Stories From the Field As advocates for international family planning assistance, the Global Population and Environment Program works to bring family planning stories from abroad home to our activists. It is imperative that we understand the intrinsic connections between women's health and the health of the environment so that we can better advocate for the U.S. government to keep its promise to support international family planning and reproductive health programs. In the Family Planning Spotlight: Kenya
Planned Parenthood Global Partners
U.S. International Family Planning Policy in Kenya
Another expected consequence of eliminating UNFPA funding will be the increase in population in a country already struggling with food shortages and extreme poverty. When health clinics close doors, access to condoms and education about safe sex is compromised. The reality of the situation in Kenya has strengthened the conviction of an advocate like Congressman Greenwood that compassionate and generous U.S. health care policies and services overseas are essential.
K-MET, Population Growth and the Kakamega Rainforest As the only surviving equatorial rainforest in Kenya, the Kakamega Rainforest has been a major concern of the Kenya government and NGO's alike. Between 10 and 20% of animal species in Kakamega are endemic. It is also the main source of support for local communities, who rely on the forest for land for agriculture and cattle grazing, food, herbal medicines, wood for fuel, building material, and much of their income. Dr. L.M. Rogo of ICIPE (who is also the wife of Dr. Khama Rogo) estimates that the rainforest lost half of its prior area in the last 30 years and could disappear in another 30 years without intervention. Dr. Rogo cites population expansion in the immediate area of the forest as a root cause for the loss of biodiversity.
ICIPE and K-MET found that contraceptive use was much lower and fertility rates much higher among women in Kakamega than in other parts of Kenya. They resolved to increase the availability of family planning services and of a wider variety of birth control methods such as surgical methods and hormonal implants (Norplant). The plan called for K-MET nurses to train Kakamega community members as volunteers who would then go out into the community, educate people about family planning, provide contraception and help community members realize the importance of conserving the rainforest. Services available in Kakamega now include tubal ligation, post-abortion care, vasectomy, Norplant insertion, Pap smears and now the more widely available contraceptive methods such as the birth control pill.
Although K-MET has not had a direct funding loss due to the U.S. cuts to international family planning funding, they now have to serve increasing numbers of women with fewer health care providers. The Kenyan government has stated the availability of family planning services as a priority, but has not made up for the loss of U.S. funding. ICIPE has stated that if the Kakamega project's momentum can be sustained, it could slow the rate of population growth around Kakamega within 20 years. Together with other community efforts, the project will hopefully limit the destruction of the rainforest as well. With the help of Congressman Greenwood and citizens who realize the importance of international family planning, programs like K-MET will grow stronger and realize their full potential for helping both humankind and our environment. Read more about K-MET in Population Connection's Reporter Fall 2003 (pdf)
Back to Summer 2003 Population Report
Photos from Planned Parenthood.
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As part of the Planned Parenthood Global Partners program, Planned Parenthood Association of Bucks County (PPABC), in suburban Philadelphia, is partnered with K-MET (Kisumu Medical and Educational Trust), based in Kisumu, Kenya. Global Partners is a grant-funded program that pairs family planning providers overseas with Planned Parenthood affiliates in the United States. The goal of the program is twofold: (1) to provide an opportunity for family planning providers to help, share and learn from each other, and (2) to bring a human face to our understanding of the impact of U.S. international family planning policies overseas. 
K-MET was started by a group of physicians, including Dr. Khama Rogo and Dr. Solomon Orero, who saw the devastating effect of unsafe abortion on women and girls suffering serious health consequences or even death. Providers of unsafe abortions, openly called "quacks" in Kenya, had often been the only resort in a country where abortion is illegal and healthcare in general is scarce. Although K-MET began by providing mainly what they call "post-abortion care," which is legal, they quickly realized the need for other services. Since their founding, they have expanded their programs into HIV/ AIDS home care, contraceptive and gynecological services and much-needed education about contraception and safe sex. They have also reduced the number of deaths due to unsafe abortion in the district hospital in Kisumu from several each week to none. Beyond providing care in a clinic setting, K-MET specializes in bringing care to women, men and children in remote villages with no other access to healthcare. Realizing the link between population and the environment, K-MET has collaborated with the International Center on Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) that works to conserve the Kakamega Rainforest.
With a population density slightly higher than New Jersey's (the highest of any state in the U.S.), the Kakamega area is one of the most densely populated in Kenya, and it has one of the highest rates of population growth. Kisumu, where K-MET is based, is located along the shore of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, quite close to the Kakamega rainforest. It became evident to both Dr. Rogos that K-MET services would not only benefit the community, but also help in the conservation of the rainforest.
While K-MET's community-based volunteers worked the family planning angle, ICIPE developed alternate income generating activities. Many women used to sell food cooked over a wood fire using trees from the forest to generate income. Working with ICIPE, the women now sell a renewable resource-honey. ICIPE has also started zero-cow-grazing programs and a community-banking program. New methods of income also serve as an incentive for volunteers to join K-MET's community-health-based model.