Stemming teenage pregnancy calls for collaborative efforts
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2014), more than 13,000 teenage girls drop out of school annually due to pregnancy.
What you need to know:
- According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2014), one in every five girls aged 15-19 is either pregnant or already a mother.
- The Global Childhood Report 2019 shows Kenya has the third-highest teen pregnancy rates, with 82 births per 1,000 births.
Teenage pregnancy remains a global social and medical problem. A United Nations Population Fund report on Kenya found 378,397 pregnancies for girls aged 10-19 between July 2016 and June 2017.
Narok, where 40 per cent of teenagers became pregnant, led counties with the highest number of teenage pregnancies. Others were Homa Bay (33 per cent), West Pokot (29 per cent), Tana River (28 per cent), Nyamira (28 per cent), Samburu (26 per cent) and Migori and Kwale both at 24 per cent.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2014), one in every five girls aged 15-19 is either pregnant or already a mother. In addition, more than 13,000 teenage girls drop out of school annually due to pregnancy.
The Global Childhood Report 2019 shows Kenya has the third-highest teen pregnancy rates, with 82 births per 1,000 births. The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation with school closures and lockdowns.
Commercial sex work
Poverty remains the major cause, as some young girls are forced to engage in commercial sex work to fend for themselves and their families. Early marriages also expose teens to early sex. Some parents have also failed to give guidance to their children, who are left to learn about sex either from friends or the internet.
According to the World Health Organization, pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years globally. Government and civil society organisations must be commended for their efforts. Plan International Kenya has lined up a raft of measures to enable young girls to make informed choices about sexuality and relationships, and if and when to have children.
The government enacted the Sexual Offences Act, which provides that a person found guilty of defiling a minor aged between 12 and 15 be jailed for not less than 20 years while whoever has sex with minors between 16 and 18 years gets a minimum of 15 years.
However, a lot more needs to be done. Key among these is economic empowerment of young girls and adolescents. It is also time to involve boys and men as anti-teenage pregnancy champions. The government should also enforce the School Re-entry Policy for teen mothers.
The writer is Country Director, Plan International - Kenya
