An estimated seven million adolescents missed classes for three months consecutively in 2019/2020, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health.
The Kenya Adolescent Health Survey 2019/2020 released on Friday reveals that in the same period, at least 2 million adolescents aged between 15 and 19 were found to be smoking and abusing alcohol.
The survey indicates that about 348,000, representing 3 per cent of the adolescent population, smoked cigarettes. The same number was found to have abused marijuana. About 1 million abused alcohol, estimated at 9 per cent in the period under review.
However, on a positive note, about 11 million and 10 million attended classes and were enrolled in school respectively.
According to the survey, the number of learners who missed school was the same as those abusing alcohol and drugs.
"Some 94 per cent have ever attended school, 87 per cent are currently enrolled, and 60 per cent have missed school for 1 to 5 days in the past 3 months," reads a section of the survey.
In the report, nationally, the substance frequently used by adolescents aged between 15 and 19 was alcohol at 9.9 per cent, alcohol at 9 percent and 3 percent use of cigarettes. Use of khat stood at 1.5 per cent, followed by cannabis at 0.9 per cent and cocaine at 0.1 per cent.
Boys are reported to abuse substances more as compared to girls in the report, at 3.3 per cent against 1.3 per cent usage in females. "The majority of the respondents who reported having ever used a substance were male (3.3 per cent) than female (1.3 per cent).
The commonly used substances in adolescent females were alcohol, khat, and cannabis at 4.9, 1.5 and 0.9 per cent.
"Male adolescents reported higher use of substances compared to females, with most of the respondents who reported doing so having used a substance before the age of 15," adds the report.
Alcohol followed by cigarettes was the most frequently used type of substance in Kenya by adolescents.
During the survey, no female participant reported using an amphetamine type stimulant (Cloud 9) while 0.2 per cent of male adolescents had ever used it.
According to the report, adolescents access substance by sourcing them in shops or a street vendor, from their peers, some send someone to buy for them, whereas a number get them from their homes.
A number are also given by their relatives, social events like parties in school functions and social events.
The study linked the use of substances to mental illnesses among adolescents in the country.
For instance, Western region scored highest in substance use at 27.8 percent, followed by Lower Eastern at 23 per cent and 1.6 per cent in Nairobi.
Depression and anxiety
Depression and anxiety were ranked high in the Lower Eastern region at 22.2 per cent and 17.3 per cent respectively, while Nairobi recorded 10.1 and 9.4 per cent of the cases. Central region, on the other hand, which has in the past recorded more cases of substance and alcohol use in adults, scored at least 1.9 per cent.
"Nationally, depression symptoms domain 7.2 per cent was reported by more adolescents than anxiety at 6 per cent," reads a section of the report.
The main objective of the survey was to assess the health-related knowledge, attitude, behaviour, demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as access to services, among the adolescents aged 10 to 19 years in Kenya.
Additionally, the survey found that the majority of male adolescents representing 81.9 per cent spent their own money on girlfriends, followed by entertainment at 65 per cent and beauty products at 55.2 per cent.
A similar trend was observed among the female counterparts with 72.9 per cent found to spend their money on a boyfriend, 47.4 percent on entertainment and 31 percent on beauty products. The adolescents are also reported spending money to purchase drugs and substances.
"2.1 per cent of adolescents reported spending money on drugs and alcohol, with 81.2 per cent of them reporting to have used their own money. 2.8 per cent reported spending money on sports betting, of whom 90.5 per cent reported having used their own money,".
"With regard to personal harmful expenditure, more male adolescents spent their money on sports betting followed by drugs and alcohol at 90.55 and 81.2 per cent respectively compared to their female counterparts at 22.3 per cent and 18.1 per cent," adds the report.
Meanwhile, the survey found that availability of young friendly facilities help improve adolescent health and access to information.
Overall, at least 57 per cent of the facilities guaranteed that adolescent's client information will be protected, with Nyanza South recorded the highest number of facilities that guaranteed the adolescent's information to be protected.
Only six per cent of the sampled health facilities nationally reported denying services to adolescents, the highest number being in the Western region at 27 per cent, whereas Central, Lower Eastern, Nairobi, North Eastern, Nyanza South and Rift Valley South regions reported zero health facilities that denied adolescents services.
The survey found out that nutrition is also a key area in the development of adolescents. In the study, 11.6 per cent of adolescents nationally were thin or wasted, and 10.7 per cent were overweight or obese.
