Health CS Kagwe [Photo: MOH Twitter]
Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe is calling for sustained efforts to definitively deal with the challenge of teenage pregnancies.
Speaking in Nyeri during a sensitization campaign named ‘The Triple Threat’, Kagwe noted that teenage pregnancies negate the gains made in the health and education sector.
According to Kagwe, the campaign seeks to address the challenge of adolescent pregnancy, new HIV infections and sexual and gender-based violence cases among adolescents and young people.
He then called on the public to rescue the affected girls and ensure they are taken back to school while building a solid community system that will end these challenges at the County and national levels.
“Sadly, child motherhood has serious health consequences for girls. Some die while giving birth because their bodies are still too fragile to carry a pregnancy to term and deliver safely. Others experience long lasting psychological and physical problems,” observed Kagwe.
The CS added that the overlapping challenges among Kenya’s children negate the gains made in the health and education sector adding that they are not only disruptive to the individual children but the entire society.
“The issue of child mothers is drawing us back. In 2018 we attended to 427,135 children aged 10-19 with pregnancies in our health facilities. Despite the progress in reducing these occurrences, in 2021 we still recorded 316,187 of this age group attending antenatal clinics.”
Present Health PS Susan Mochache also said the occurrence of teenage pregnancies negates the progress of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat adding that they deprive young girls of the opportunity to further their education and attain their career goals.
“We want to build on a country movement that will build resilience across communities to reject all forms of violence against our children. A country where we can see the end of an epidemic that has been with us for close to three decades,” said Mochache.
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