DSW’s Samuel Gathondu (in the DSW branded T-shirt) briefs Kenya’s Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Mr. Mwangi Kiunjuri about DSW’s work with young people in Kenya during the 2016 World Population Day commemoration event in Nairobi
Kenya joined the rest of the world in calling for investment in teenage girls by tackling teenage pregnancies in the country during this year’s World Population Day on Monday 11th July 2016.
Stakeholders made the decision to focus on the issue of teenage pregnancy during commemoration events held around Kenya.
Data from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, reveals that many young Kenyans aged between 15 and 18 years are having babies. By age 15, 3 out of 100 girls are already child-bearing and this rises to 40 out of 100 girls by age 19.
DSW’s Peter Ngure, Halima Ali and Lucia Chebett during the World Population Day 2016 commemoration event in Kilifi County.
Another study estimated that 13,000 teenage girls in Kenya leave school every year due to pregnancy.
In an opinion article for World Population Day 2016, DSW’s Kenya Country Director Dr. George Kamau called for implementation of the national adolescent sexual and reproductive health policy to help in stemming teenage pregnancy in Kenya.
“This is the time for consistent and visible action from the Ministry of Health to tackle teenage pregnancies in Kenya. The ministry needs to convene an executing team to implement the 14-point plan to tackle teenage pregnancy as outlined in the national adolescent sexual and reproductive health policy,” Dr. Kamau wrote in his piece.
DSW’s Kenya Country Office is working with various stakeholders to address the issue of teenage pregnancies in Kenya. This work is done under the Young Adolescents Project (YAP) and the SHAPE (Securing Health through Advocacy and People’s Empowerment) project
