The rate of teenage pregnancies in Kenya is shocking and alarming, there is an urgent call for action to control this escalating crisis before it becomes unbearable.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report, close to 378, 400 adolescent girls in Kenya aged between 10 and 19 years become pregnant within a span of one year. This research was conducted between July 2016 and June 2017.
Media reports have also indicated scary numbers of young girls failing to sit for their national examinations due to early pregnancies.
In Kilifi County, for instance, about 14,000 girls aged between 15 to 19 years got pregnant in 2018, according to reports by children’s affairs department.
Narok County also recorded shocking figures of early pregnancies. Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2014 report indicated that 4 out of 10 girls in Narok County got pregnant at a tender age representing 40%.
Other counties that have been put on spotlight over teenage pregnancies include Homa Bay (33%), Kitui (36%), West Pokot (29%) Tana River (28%), Nyamira (28%), Samburu (26%), Migori (24%), Kwale (24%) and Nairobi (21%). According to KDHS report https://www.jambonews.co.ke/shocking-statistics-about-teenage-pregnancy-kdhs/
These figures are alarming and as a society, we must do something to prevent, reduce and control this prevalence.
Below are some strategies we can apply to control and reduce teenage pregnancy in our country.
1. Introduce and adapt Collective Children Community Care (CCCC) Policy.
This policy can be initiated at a Location leveled by the Chief who will work for hand in hand with the Sub-chief and village elders to bring families together and educate parents and the entire society on the importance of having a collective responsibility in the proper upbringing of our children.
To make it more practical and cohesive, the Location administration can go further and appoint a committee of at least 10 responsible parents in every village to voluntarily engage other parents and members of the society on the need to collectively protect teenagers against early pregnancies.
The committee will also be charged with the responsibility of initiating an open dialogue between parents, children, teachers and other partners to deliberate on causes of teenage pregnancies in every village and how to concert efforts in combating such causes.
This committee should work to break family boundaries so that a child in the village is not just identified with a certain family but is broadly seen as a member of the community who should be loved, protected and invested in for the future prosperity of the society.
This will also help in ease identification and rehabilitation of errant men who lure teenagers into early marriages and pregnancies in our villages.
Once this is achieved in every village, our children particularly girls will be safe from the high risk of sex and early pregnancies.
2. Introduce sex education in schools and churches.
It is high time we should open up and talk about this important topic that we have for long been shying away from.
Since it is apparent that parents are not comfortable discussing sex-related topics with their children, it is important that the government through the Ministry of education considers incorporating sex education in our curriculum.
This can be done by certified sex education experts from the Ministry of Health, trained teachers, religious leaders and other volunteer groups with the knowledge of sex education.
Each school should have at least one lesson based on sex education every week, most appropriately on Saturdays.
The education should encompass lessons on menstruation cycle and how it affects an adolescent’s sexual life.
They should be taught about social conduct, how and to what extent they should relate to the opposite sex.
It’s also crucial that teenagers are sensitized on the use of contraceptives at early stages without fear, it is for their safety and is much better than total ignorance.
Churches should conduct special sessions with the youth to educate them on a holistic lifestyle in line with the teachings of the bible.
3. Embrace boarding school education over day schools.
Boarding schools keep children in school protecting them against some errant men who take advantage of the day school girl who is often exposed on our roads every morning and evening.
They lure them into sexual activities that in turn result to unplanned pregnancies that affects the girl’s education and future life.
Taking our girls to boarding schools will help control the rate of early pregnancies thus reducing the escalating rates.
Parents should be encouraged to take their children to boarding schools to minimize exposure to the risk.
While mixed schools are good for social life and education, it is high time that as a country we should also consider investing more in single-sex schools particularly for our High school education.
This will help minimize the temptation of the urge for sex that is often psychologically induced by what we see, feel and think about our surrounding.
4.Parental love, care, and guidance.
Parental love is very important in boosting children's self-esteem and giving them a sense of belonging.
Parents should learn expressing love to their children through words and gifts.
It helps cure desperation for love from the child who would otherwise be easily swayed by men who often extend a heart of pretentious love that is mostly sex driven.
Parental care and guidance will help bring up the child in a proper, well-mannered way that will her understand the kind of environment she is living in and the nature of the people that there exist.
Parents, for instance, should limit the child's access to electronic and digital devices that carry explicit content. They should also determine the kind of TV programs and shows that they should watch and to what extent.
If we can religiously embrace and practice these strategies in our daily life, I am convinced that with time we will successfully overcome this menace and realize a society that is healthy and morally upright.