The factors influencing fertility rates among women in Kikumi Kikumi

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to find out the factors influencing fertility rates among the women of Kikumi Kikumi and in this research, a self- administered questionnaire was used to collect data whereby a sample size of 138 was considered. The collected data was first cleaned and after which analyzed at three levels i.e. univariate, bivariate and multivariable levels considering the number of children born alive to a woman as the dependent variable whereas age, frequency of sexual intercourse, age at first sex, religion, highest education level attained, access to contraceptives and weight were the independent variables. On analysis, it was found out that the estimated coefficient of age was 0.12(p-value 0.00) which implies that on average, an increase by one year in the age of a woman in Kikumi Kikumi is associated with an increase of 0.12 children born alive. The estimated coefficient of frequency of sexual intercourse was found to be 0.11(p-value 0.00) which implies that on average, a unit increase in the frequency of sexual intercourse among women in Kikumi Kikumi is associated with an increase of 0.11 children born alive. The estimated coefficient of age at first sex was found to be -0.17 (p-value 0.01) which implies that on average, an increase by one year in a woman’s age at first sex is associated with a decrease of 0.17 children born alive. The estimated coefficient of access to contraceptives was -0.64(p-value 0.04) which implies that on average, a unit increase in the access to contraceptives among women in Kikumi Kikumi is associated with a decrease of 0.64 children born alive keeping all other factors constant. From the research carried out and all the findings, it was recommended that authorities in Kikumi Kikumi make it easier for all women to have access to contraceptives, seek means to promote the education of the girl child, health authorities in Kikumi Kikumi should as well carryout massive sensitization and education of the women about the negative impacts of extreme frequencies of intercourse on their general wellbeing as this would reduce the numbers of children born alive since it was found out from the research carried out that women with more frequent sexual intercourse in Kikumi Kikumi ended up having more numbers of children born alive.