Kenya commits to end early pregnancies and HIV infections in adolescents

NSDCC CEO Dr Ruth Masha (in blue) during the launch of commitments to end the triple threat. [Mercy Kahenda, Standard]

HIV infections, teenage pregnancy and Gender Based Violence are the three issues that continue to pace conversations in Kenya, with adolescents feeling the heat of them.

But tackling these issues - under the Triple Threat agenda - has now assumed a whole-of-nation approach with every hand on deck.

One of the key commitments unveiled by the Ministry of Health towards this fight is to involve men and boys.

The National Syndemic Disease Control Council (NSDCC) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Ruth Masha, says the country is reporting increased cases of sex within same-age groups.

"We recently started meeting adolescent fathers, and we are looking at the future of how an adolescent father looks like and the challenges they go through," says Masha.

She adds that NSDCC has been working with The Judiciary to find the best ways of resolving the spiking cases.

"We have a Romeo and Juliet kind of situation that which the girl is a small girl, and the boy is also the same age mate.  This is a big challenge for the country and what we are going to be doing moving forward is to focus also on our men and boys," Masha adds.

One of the issues within NSDCC’s lens is drug and substance abuse which is said to be goading early sex among boys.

To show its commitment, the focus of this year's World AIDS Day, set to be observed on the first of December, is men and boys. A marathon for men and boys is being organised.

"The whole idea is even as much as we are speaking about girls, we cannot leave men and boys away from this conversation," says Masha.

On June 12th this year, NSDCC is also planning to launch a strategy for working with men and boys towards ending the triple threat as well as drugs and substance abuse.

For a long time, the government has been running multiple segmented projects with a focus on triple threat.

"Some people come here and speak about violence, other groups come and speak about pregnancies, and others come and speak about HIV. But what we are observing is that this is about unprotected sex, unintended sex, as well as undecided sex at that time," adds Masha.

Delays in addressing sex in adolescents, according to the top official, will continue contributing to new cases of HIV infections, sexual gender-based violence and early pregnancies in adolescents.

"The issue is how do to help those who want to abstain to keep abstaining…This is one of the commitments we are asking ourselves. We have so many girls, so many young men so many boys who actually do not desire to have sex until it is the right time," she says.

Additional commitment is re-entry into school for girls fall into the trap of early pregnancy.

"We are saying for those few who are pregnant, we take them back to school and ensure that they do not cut short on their education. We are looking at every single aspect that actually surrounds these issues so that we do not say it is one single bullet. 

This is why we are saying it is a whole nation, it is everyone including the media that we can be able to address the issue,” Masha elaborates.  

Governor Gladys Wanga with NSDCC CEO Dr Ruth Masha in Homa Bay during the launch of commitments to end the triple threat. [Mercy Kahenda, Standard]

End to Triple Threat was launched in Homa Bay, one of the counties reporting high numbers of adolescent pregnancies, new HIV infections, and gender-based violence.

According to the ministry's 2023 data, the country reported 22,154 new HIV infections, out of which 41 per cent occurred among young persons aged between 15 and 24 years. 

In the same year, some 3,200 children aged between 10 and 19 years were infected with the disease.

Additionally, more than 250,000 girls presented to antenatal care (ANC) clinics, the majority of them aged between 10 and 17 years.

However, the presentation of the girls to facilities too late to mitigate HIV cases.

"The job is not done. We have committed as a government to top indicators that if we do across all sectors to entice young people to transition from school to work. We are on this missing-to-end triple threat. The triple threat must come to an end. We shall let our girls be girls and not mothers," emphasized Masha. 

Homa Bay Governor, Gladys Wanga, who is also the National Chairperson in the fight against Triple Threat, emphasizes her commitment to ending the vice.

"The issue of sexual behavior, we must continue the conversation actively with our young people. There is no single silver bullet. It is a combination of efforts and many different interventions by many different partners which I am happy that we are now coming together to coordinate so that when moving, we move together" says Wanga.

 She adds, "We must have this conversation and demystify the issue of HIV infections and even issue of teenage pregnancy, and sexual based gender violence".

Wanga attributes cases of Triple Threat to failures in addressing sexual behaviour in adolescents.

Although there is progress in ending the vice, she says, the county is still lagging behind.

"So long as we do not talk about it and hide and make it a taboo subject, there is going to be no progress. We are not where we should be. We want to end," said the governor.

According to the governor, the failure to get solutions to Triple Threat may blight the future of girls.

"I go to facilities in the county every other day, and there is no day when I do not find a teenager and adolescent delivering. Sometimes you would think adolescents have taken over deliveries from their mothers and adults. So it is a situation that we must end," says the governor.

If the county and country longs to have a bright future for girls, the vice must end, she says.

"If we are going to be guaranteed of a generation that will have our girls coming to take over after all of us here because if people are going to get married here, their futures are going to be destroyed. They are not going to complete their education, and they are doing that in numbers, then there is no guarantee that tomorrow there will stand here, and on international platforms speaking for Kenya" concludes the governor.