Why Kenya's youth remain vulnerable to HIV and teen pregnancy

Adolescents and youth aged between 15 and 24 years account for 41 per cent of new HIV infections recorded in Kenya in 2025. This means out of 10 youths in the country, four are already infected, says the data from the Ministry of Health.

In addition, teenage pregnancy affects 15 per cent of girls aged 15–19 years, either pregnant or already mothers, and in some counties, the percentage is higher, with Samburu recording 50 per cent and 36 per cent in West Pokot.

These are not statistics. Dr Bishar Issak, Head of the Family Health Department at the Ministry of Health, made this clear during the opening of the ninth RHNK Pan-African Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Scientific Conference in Mombasa.

“These numbers represent girls whose dreams have been interrupted, whose bodies have been forced to carry responsibilities they were not prepared for, and whose futures depend on whether the systems around them are strong enough to support them,” he said.

The conference brought together more than 750 participants from 44 African countries under the theme: “Strengthening SRHR to Achieve Youth Agency, Full Potential and Meaningful Engagement in Africa's Dynamic Socio-Political and Economic Landscape.”

The crisis is not just about numbers. It is about knowledge or the absence of it.

In Garissa, only 15 per cent of adolescent girls have comprehensive HIV knowledge. Nationally, just 26 per cent know that condom use can prevent HIV transmission.

Dr Issak reframed this in terms that cut to the heart of the matter. “These are not merely statistical gaps; they are gaps in survival,” he said.

When a girl does not know how HIV is transmitted, when she does not know that condoms prevent infection, when she does not know where to access prevention services, she is not behind on an educational metric. She is at risk of infection. She is at risk of death.

The knowledge gaps are killing young people in Kenya. And the ministry has only recently begun to acknowledge the scale of the failure.

Another trend has alarmed the Ministry of Health: mother-to-child HIV transmission has increased from 7.3 per cent to 9 per cent, signalling setbacks in the fight against HIV despite years of intervention programmes.

This increase is particularly significant because mother-to-child transmission is one of the most preventable forms of HIV infection. A pregnant woman on antiretroviral therapy has virtually no risk of transmitting HIV to her baby. The fact that transmission is rising, not falling, suggests that pregnant women are not accessing treatment or are not on consistent therapy.

For teenage mothers, this problem is compounded. They are young. They are often from poor families. They do not have stable access to healthcare. Many are excluded from systems designed to help them, as recent investigations have shown.

A teenage mother who does not know she is HIV-positive will not seek treatment. A teenage mother who cannot afford antiretroviral drugs will go without. And her baby will be born infected.

Dr Issak outlined several initiatives, including increased investment in comprehensive sexuality education, training of healthcare workers, and the revival of community-based HIV prevention programmes that were weakened by donor funding cuts.

Adolescent-friendly services will be expanded, he said, to ensure young people can access medicines, prevention commodities and essential health services at nearby facilities without stigma or barriers.

The government is also implementing broader health reforms, he noted. These include the formalisation of 170,000 Community Health Promoters, the rollout of the Digital Health Superhighway, and the Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere (EWENE) initiative aimed at improving maternal health outcomes through real-time data tracking.

Dr Issak emphasised a point that should be at the centre of every development strategy in Africa: the continent’s young population is an asset if, and only if, it is invested in.

“Africa’s youthful population presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Adolescents make up 23 per cent of the continent’s population, while 60 per cent are below the age of 25,” he said. “Africa Agenda 2063 identifies young people as the drivers of the continent’s demographic dividend. The question is whether we are making the investments needed to unlock that potential.”

International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) Regional Director, Dr Claudia Shilumani, offered a stark warning: “Failure to invest in adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health rights could reverse gains made in HIV prevention, maternal health and girls’ education.”

She went further, warning that Africa’s development itself depends on sustained investment in young people. “Neglect could trap the continent in cycles of poverty, inequality and preventable disease despite its youthful population,” she added.

This is not a warning about lost opportunity. It is a warning about regression. It is a warning that if Kenya does not invest now, the gains of the past 20 years in HIV prevention, in maternal health, in girls’ education could be lost.

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