Contraception catches on in Kenya's Muslim north-east

Wajir, Kenya

SWADDLED in colourful hijabs, the women exchange puzzled looks and suppress embarrassed giggles. "You're sure it's halal?" asks one, peering at a collection of birth control pills, condoms and IUDs.

Such everyday forms of contraception are little known and rarely seen in Kenya's arid and neglected north-east, an overwhelmingly poor, conservative and Muslim part of the country where most people are pastoralist ethnic Somalis.