IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0000147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stability and change in fertility intentions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Linnea A Zimmerman
  • Celia Karp
  • Mary Thiongo
  • Peter Gichangi
  • Georges Guiella
  • Alison Gemmill
  • Caroline Moreau
  • Suzanne O Bell

Abstract

Fertility intentions are expected to decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic but limited empirical research on this topic has been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. Longitudinal data from Kenya, with baseline (November 2019) and follow-up (June 2020) data, were used to 1) assess the extent to which individual-level fertility intentions changed, and 2) examine how security, specifically economic and health security, affected fertility intentions. The final sample included 3,095 women. The primary outcomes were change in quantum and timing. Exploratory analyses described overall changes within the sample and logistic regression models assessed sociodemographic and COVID-19 related correlates of change, specifically income loss at the household level, food insecurity, and ability to socially distance. Approximately 85% of women reported consistent fertility intentions related to both the number and timing of childbearing. No COVID-19-related factors were related to changing quantum intentions. Women who reported chronic food insecurity had 4.78 times the odds of accelerating their desired timing to next birth compared to those who reported no food insecurity (95% CI: 1.53–14.93), with a significant interaction by wealth. The COVID-19 pandemic did not lead to widespread changes in fertility intentions in Kenya, though the most vulnerable women may have accelerated their childbearing intentions.

Suggested Citation

  • Linnea A Zimmerman & Celia Karp & Mary Thiongo & Peter Gichangi & Georges Guiella & Alison Gemmill & Caroline Moreau & Suzanne O Bell, 2022. "Stability and change in fertility intentions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(3), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000147
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000147
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000147&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000147?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiao Yu & Kathryn Grace & Elizabeth Heger Boyle & Jude P. Mikal & Matthew Gunther & Devon Kristiansen, 2024. "COVID‐19 and Contraceptive Use in Two African Countries: Examining Conflicting Pressures on Women," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S1), pages 395-419, July.
    2. Lazzari, Ester & Reimondos, Anna & Gray, Edith, 2022. "Childbearing desires before and after the Covid-19 outbreak in Australia: Who changed their attitudes toward having a first or additional child?," SocArXiv qbgmp, Center for Open Science.
    3. Letícia J. Marteleto & Sneha Kumar & Molly Dondero & Luiz Gustavo Fernandes Sereno, 2024. "Fertility Intentions During the Covid‐19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Individual‐ and Municipality‐Level Determinants," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S1), pages 213-242, July.
    4. Luca Maria Pesando & Alejandra Abufhele, 2024. "Declining Quantity and Quality of Births in Chile amidst the COVID‐19 Pandemic," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(S1), pages 75-99, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0000147. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.