Family Planning
Some Kenya Population Facts:
  1. •Current Population: 34,707,817
  2. •Projected Population (2015): 49.4 Million
  3. •Population Growth Rate: 2.57% (highest 8th percent of countries in the world according to CIA fact book)
  4. •42% of the population is under age 14
  5. •40% of the population is unemployed
  6. •50% of the population live below poverty line
  7. •Average woman has 4.7 children
  8. •Maternal Mortality rate: 1 death:100 live births
  9. •Abortion is illegal in Kenya...
Kenya has battled with extreme population growth in since independence. In the Samburu district where children are married around the age of 12 and abortion is illegal, it is not uncommon to see a 15 year old with one or two of her own children.  Kenya also has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world - roughly 1,000 deaths for every 100,000 live births which is mostly a result of the common (though outlawed) practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).
 
There is still hope.... Family Planning
Despite the overwhelming statistics, there is still a great deal of hope in Kenya. Family Planning empowers women to have control over their lives.  Through education and birth control, women can determine how many children they hope to have and space them out accordingly so that they may afford to educate and feed each child.  Nomadic Community Trust strives to ensure that women in rural Samburu have options.
 
Nomadic Community Trust reaches over 1900 clients each month and distribute approximately 30,000 condoms. The condoms have proven to be a success - the communities not only use them, but demand more.  One of the goals of NCT is to increase the number of condoms it can distribute for they prevent both unwanted pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
 
In addition to condoms, trained nurses also provide birth control for women in the form of an injection every three months.  This form of birth control is simple (for women don’t have the hassle of remembering to take a daily pill at a specific hour) and empowers women.  With birth control injections, women don’t have to be dependent upon their husband’s decision to wear a condom - they can plan pregnancies on their own. NCT also provides immunizations for children in an effort to reduce infant mortality (Kenya is in the highest quarter or the worlds infant mortality rate).  In the end,the clinic allows women to have fewer and healthier children - providing for a more stable population.
 
Condoms are effective at stopping both pregnancy and the transfer of HIV and other STDs. Unfortunately, because NCT is the only provider of condoms for many of the villages, they often find that the can not meet the demand despite distributing 30,000 each month.