[Students of a school in a past photo. High dropout rate in Kenyan schools is reportedly increasing HIV risks among teens. Photo/Hivisasa.com]
High teenage dropout rates have been blamed for the spread of HIV in Kisii County.
Ms Gathoni Ndungu, a Child Welfare Society of Kenya communications officer, has identified the scourge among teens as being fuelled by the lack of education opportunities.
“Dropping out of school significantly increases teenagers’ risk of HIV infection. We encourage parents and guardians of orphans to take the young children to school so as to avoid exposing them to HIV exposure through premature sexual activity,” said Ms Ndungu.
Addressing participants in Kisii Town during a capacity-building workshop for social workers, Ms Ndungu cautioned parents against allowing their children to drop out of school, saying they could not supervise their movements at all times.
“School may not be a foolproof method of protecting our children but it is a better option compared to leaving them at home while we go to work or do business,” said Ms Ndungu.
According to the Kisii County 2014-2019 HIV Strategic Plan, approximately 55 percent of individuals in this region had their first sexual intercourse before the age of 15, an indication of early sexual debut, a statistic attributed to the County HIV profile of 2016.
“We are concerned about the relatively young age at which our teenagers are engaging in sex, which also raises the risk of unprotected sex and subsequent teenage pregnancies and HIV infection,” says Mr Joel Machuka, a child rights activist.
He said a number of children in the county were dropping out of school due to poverty occasioned by the sickness or death of their parents.
Mr Machuka said both the boy and girl child were at risk of the scourge, saying they were equally exposed to sexual exploitation after taking up adult jobs in a bid to fend for themselves after dropping out of school.
“Some of these young dropouts seek employment in labour-intensive sectors like quarry mining sites, cane cutting in sugar industries, touting in matatu stages in rural areas, selling foodstuffs in the market and brickmaking,” he said.
The activist said the minors were likely to imitate the behavior of adults around them and engage in drug and alcohol abuse, getting into sexual activity as a result.
"Some of these minors may feel they have become adults and may make irresponsible decisions on sexual activity as a result of peer pressure to behave like their colleagues. Such acts could expose them to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections," he said.
Mr Machuka said others opt to become street children, where the risk of catching HIV from unprotected sex for payment is also present.
“We have witnessed cases of children being forced into sex for cash in order to buy food and other needs. Even boys have told us some of them are sodomized for cash by male clients in urban areas in the region,” he said.
A 2016 Unicef Situation Report report on the HIV-AIDs pandemic named it as the leading cause of death among adolescents aged between 10 to 19 years globally.
"Adolescent girls, particularly in sub-Sharan Africa, face higher risks of infection. Low social status, household poverty, food insecurity, and poor quality education all limit opportunities for girls, while pervasive sexual and gender-based violence render them extremely vulnerable to HIV," the report says.
The report paints a disturbing picture the pandemic, saying 3 of of every 4 new infections among 15 to 19 year olds occur in girls.
Kisii County's HIV strategic plan which covers the five years between 2014 and 2019, has listed an estimated county population of 1,236,966 by 2012.
This represents 597,934 males and 639,032 females respectively.
By the end of 2017, the County Integrated Development Plan of 2013 to 2017 projects this population to rise to 1,367,049 persons incorporating 660,810 males and 706,239 females.
HIV prevalence among adults and children in the region was tabled in the report at 8.0 percent translating into 63,715 people living with HIV (PLHIV) out of which 56,000 are adults and 7,715 are children.
Overall, the plan The HIV prevalence among women in the county is higher at 8.5 percent than that of men at 7.3 percent.
According to County Executive Committee member for Health Ms Sarah Omache, the region has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates nationally, with an 8 percent rate.
“Currently, Kisii County is among the counties with relatively high HIV prevalence which currently stands at 8.0%, with an estimated 4,891 new HIV infections in adults and 1,075 new HIV infections in children. It is ranked at number 42 out of 47 counties in terms of the HIV burden,” said Ms Omache.
Speaking to the Nation in her office, she called on national administrators, stakeholders and community workers to work together to ensure that children are kept in school.
“We must all join hands to make sure our children stay in school so that their future as well as safety can be guaranteed,” said Ms Omache.
According to the “Kenya Fast Track Plan to End HIV and AIDS among Adolescents and Young People, 2015”, an estimated 13,079 adolescents aged 15-24 years are living with the virus in the county, while another approximately 5,012 do not know their HIV status and could be contributing to the new infections in this age group.
In Kisii County, 18906 adults are currently on anti-retrovitral therapy (ART) coverage which is 34 percent of the total affected population while 2064 children are on treatment representing 28 percent of paediatric ART coverage.
This is much lower than the national coverage for both adults and pediatrics which is at 81 percent and 38 percent respectively.
According to the document, 45,360 adults and 6,250 children are in need of ART in the region.
Kenya HIV County Profiles of 2014 ranked the county at position 42 out of 47 and 43 out of 47 in ART coverage among adults and children respectively.
Approximately 1,352 adults and 492 children died of AIDS-related conditions in 2013.