Will Uhuru give your kids condoms?

That children living in single rooms now know about sex firsthand from watching or listening to their parents rolling in the sheets, thinking the young ones are asleep, should worry Kenyans.

The situation is dire given the number of families confined to single rooms because of economic and housing constraints.

The concerns could be further fuelled by the recent shocking revelations by President Uhuru Kenyatta. As part of a global campaign to scale up the war on HIV/Aids among adolescents, it was reported that the President plans to issue condoms to teenagers.

In a report, Opportunity in Crisis, the World Health Organisation says that every day, an estimated 2,500 young people are newly infected with HIV, while one adolescent is infected with HIV every two minutes. This is a global problem that evidently alarmed the president.

During the launch of the All-In campaign in February, President Uhuru observed that HIV/Aids is the second highest cause of deaths among adolescents in the world, but is the leading killer of adolescents in Africa. Kenya is no exception.

No protection

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2009 reveals that 53 per cent of teenagers between the ages of 20 and 24 engaged in sexual intercourse by the time they reach 18. The Kenya Aids Indicator Survey reveals that close to 13,000 children get infected every year. Obviously, minors are not sexually active, but engage in intercourse with agemates or older people without protection.

The Director of Medical Services, Dr Nicholas Muraguri, pointed out that less than 25 per cent of teenagers between 15 and 19 years in Kenya know their HIV status. With limited opportunities for HIV detection and referral to treatment programmes, such children enter adolescence unaware of their status.

These numbers are a frightening revelations that could put Kenya’s future generation at stake.

“Including adolescents in decision-making processes that have a direct effect on their lives, this initiative will be a catalyst for change,” said President Kenyatta when he expressed the country’s support for the global initiative.

Predictably, clerics have opposed the move to sheath up the youth, with the Catholic Church’s John Cardinal Njue saying it was tantamount to encouraging teenagers to engage in prostitution.

“Is the government trying to protect our future generation or destroy it? Let us be people who can make independent decisions and refuse to be used like trash,” he cautioned.

Controversial bill

Last year, Senator Judith Sijeny tabled the Reproductive Health Care Bill that seeks, inter alia, to introduce condoms and birth control pills to minors in schools. The controversial bill stirred a heated debate, notably among religious leaders.

Writing in our sister publication, The Standard, Bishop David Oginde of Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM) said, “It is a fact that Kenya and indeed Africa, has become a lab for testing repugnant western ideologies that go against the grain of natural and cultural order. We have become a ready market for exporting toxic schemes designed to undermine social order and overthrow age-old cultural and natural values.”

But Senator Sijeny maintained that certain sections of the Bill had been taken out of context and that the objective was to “provide a framework for the protection and advancement of reproductive and health rights for women and children.”

President Kenyatta’s All-In campaign targets children aged between 10 and 19 with sex awareness education and HIV protection products such as condoms, lubricants and contraceptives.