IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0226426.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Challenges to generating political prioritization for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Kenya: A qualitative study

Author

Listed:
  • Maricianah Atieno Onono
  • Claire D Brindis
  • Justin S White
  • Eric Goosby
  • Dan Odhiambo Okoro
  • Elizabeth Anne Bukusi
  • George W Rutherford

Abstract

Background: Despite the high burden of adverse adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes, it has remained a low political priority in Kenya. We examined factors that have shaped the lack of current political prioritization of adolescent SRH service provision. Methods: We used the Shiffman and Smith policy framework consisting of four categories—actor power, ideas, political contexts, and issue characteristics—to analyse factors that have shaped political prioritization of adolescent SRH. We undertook semi-structured interviews with 14 members of adolescent SRH networks between February and April 2019 at the national level and conducted thematic analysis of the interviews. Findings: Several factors hinder the attainment of political priority for adolescent SRH in Kenya. On actor power, the adolescent SRH community was diverse and united in adoption of international norms and policies, but lacked policy entrepreneurs to provide strong leadership, and policy windows were often missed. Regarding ideas, community members lacked consensus on a cohesive public positioning of the problem. On issue characteristics, the perception of adolescents as lacking political power made politicians reluctant to act on the existing data on the severity of adolescent SRH. There was also a lack of consensus on the nature of interventions to be implemented. Pertaining to political contexts, sectoral funding by donors and government treasury brought about tension within the different government ministries resulting in siloed approaches, lack of coordination and overall inefficiency. However, the SRH community has several strengths that augur well for future political support. These include the diverse multi-sectoral background of its members, commitment to improving adolescent SRH, and the potential to link with other health priorities such as maternal health and HIV/AIDS. Conclusion: In order to increase political attention to adolescent SRH in Kenya, there is an urgent need for policy actors to: 1) create a more cohesive community of advocates across sectors, 2) develop a clearer public positioning of adolescent SRH, 3) agree on a set of precise approaches that will resonate with the political system, and 4) identify and nurture policy entrepreneurs to facilitate the coupling of adolescent SRH with potential solutions when windows of opportunity arise.

Suggested Citation

  • Maricianah Atieno Onono & Claire D Brindis & Justin S White & Eric Goosby & Dan Odhiambo Okoro & Elizabeth Anne Bukusi & George W Rutherford, 2019. "Challenges to generating political prioritization for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Kenya: A qualitative study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(12), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0226426
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226426
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226426&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0226426?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schneider, Anne & Ingram, Helen, 1993. "Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 87(2), pages 334-347, June.
    2. Anna J Dare & Katherine C Lee & Josh Bleicher & Alex E Elobu & Thaim B Kamara & Osborne Liko & Samuel Luboga & Akule Danlop & Gabriel Kune & Lars Hagander & Andrew J M Leather & Gavin Yamey, 2016. "Prioritizing Surgical Care on National Health Agendas: A Qualitative Case Study of Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and Sierra Leone," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(5), pages 1-25, May.
    3. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Norheim, Ole Frithjof, 2006. "Responsibility, fairness and rationing in health care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 312-319, May.
    4. Smith, Stephanie L. & Shiffman, Jeremy, 2016. "Setting the global health agenda: The influence of advocates and ideas on political priority for maternal and newborn survival," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 86-93.
    5. Ham, Chris, 1997. "Priority setting in health care: learning from international experience," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 49-66, October.
    6. Government of India, 2017. "National Health Policy 2017," Working Papers id:11664, eSocialSciences.
    7. Shiffman, J. & Sultana, S., 2013. "Generating political priority for neonatal mortality reduction in Bangladesh," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(4), pages 623-631.
    8. Jeremy Shiffman & Stephanie Smith, 2007. "Generation of Political Priority for Global Health Initiatives: A Framework and Case Study of Maternal Mortality," Working Papers 129, Center for Global Development.
    9. Goddard, Maria & Hauck, Katharina & Preker, Alex & Smith, Peter C., 2006. "Priority setting in health – a political economy perspective," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 79-90, January.
    10. Finnemore, Martha & Sikkink, Kathryn, 1998. "International Norm Dynamics and Political Change," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 887-917, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Lu & Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias & Opsahl, Tore, 2018. "The social network of international health aid," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 67-74.
    2. Smith, Stephanie L. & Shiffman, Jeremy, 2016. "Setting the global health agenda: The influence of advocates and ideas on political priority for maternal and newborn survival," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 86-93.
    3. Barlow, P. & Thow, A.M., 2021. "Neoliberal discourse, actor power, and the politics of nutrition policy: A qualitative analysis of informal challenges to nutrition labelling regulations at the World Trade Organization, 2007–2019," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    4. Chantal Herberholz, 2020. "The role of external actors in shaping migrant health insurance in Thailand," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Smith, Stephanie L. & Hunsmann, Moritz, 2019. "Agenda setting for maternal survival in Ghana and Tanzania against the backdrop of the MDGs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 135-142.
    6. Matthew M. Kavanagh & Renu Singh, 2023. "Vaccine politics: Law and inequality in the pandemic response to COVID‐19," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 14(2), pages 229-246, May.
    7. Moshe Maor, 2017. "Policy entrepreneurs in policy valuation processes: The case of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(8), pages 1401-1417, December.
    8. Lopreite, Milena & Puliga, Michelangelo & Riccaboni, Massimo & De Rosis, Sabina, 2021. "A social network analysis of the organizations focusing on tuberculosis, malaria and pneumonia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 278(C).
    9. Steininger, Lea & Hesse, Casimir, 2024. "Buying into new ideas: The ECB’s evolving justification of unlimited liquidity," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 357, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    10. Siddiqui, Shayzal & Smith-Morris, Carolyn, 2022. "Professional competition amidst intractable maternal mortality: Midwifery in rural Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    11. Maddison, Jonathan & Watts, Richard, 2011. "The technological fix as a frame in media debates about tailpipe emissions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 294-303.
    12. Fritz Sager & Yvan Rielle, 2013. "Sorting through the garbage can: under what conditions do governments adopt policy programs?," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 46(1), pages 1-21, March.
    13. Bruch, Sarah K. & van der Naald, Joseph & Gornick, Janet C., 2022. "Poverty Reduction through Federal and State Policy Mechanisms: Variation Over Time and Across the U.S. States," SocArXiv jz5xp, Center for Open Science.
    14. Tajul Masron & Mduduzi Biyase & Talent Zwane & Thomas Udimal & Frederich Kirsten, 2023. "Ecological footprint and population health outcomes: an analysis of E7 countries," Economics Working Papers edwrg-07-2023, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, revised 2023.
    15. G. Kent Fellows & Daniel J. Dutton & Aidan Hollis, 2018. "Making Sure Orphan Drugs Don’t Get Left Behind," SPP Communique, The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary, vol. 10(6), August.
    16. Adela Toscano-Valle & Antonio Sianes & Francisco Santos-Carrillo & Luis A. Fernández-Portillo, 2022. "Can the Rational Design of International Institutions Solve Cooperation Problems? Insights from a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    17. Federico Maria Ferrara & Jörg S Haas & Andrew Peterson & Thomas Sattler, 2022. "Exports vs. Investment: How Public Discourse Shapes Support for External Imbalances," Post-Print hal-02569351, HAL.
    18. Frank R. Baumgartner & Christine Mahoney, 2008. "Forum Section: The Two Faces of Framing," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(3), pages 435-449, September.
    19. Shawhan, Daniel L. & Picciano, Paul D., 2019. "Costs and benefits of saving unprofitable generators: A simulation case study for US coal and nuclear power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 383-400.
    20. Sandberg, Kristin Ingstad & Andresen, Steinar & Bjune, Gunnar, 2010. "A new approach to global health institutions? A case study of new vaccine introduction and the formation of the GAVI Alliance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(7), pages 1349-1356, October.

    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:pone00:0226426. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.