By Education News Reporter
Data from the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) has revealed that Nairobi, Homa Bay, Kajiado, Mandera and Kakamega counties recorded the highest number of teenage pregnancies in 2021.
According to NACC, Nairobi City County had the highest number of pregnant adolescents aged between 10 and14 years (2,332 cases) and 15 and 19 years (12,723 cases) in 2021.
Homa Bay, Kajiado and Mandera counties recorded the highest number of pregnant adolescents aged between 10 and 14 years, with data showing the counties recorded 1, 522, 1,493 and 1,370 cases respectively.
Kakamega and Meru counties had the highest number of pregnancies of adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years at 11,386 and 10,307 respectively.
Taita Taveta (16), Lamu (17) and Mombasa (21) recorded the least cases of pregnancies of adolescents aged between 10 and 14 years while Lamu (608), Taita Taveta (969) and Nyeri (1,438) recorded the least number of adolescent pregnancies aged between 15 and 19 years in the same year.
Lack of self-awareness or sex education, peer pressure, poverty, drugs and substance abuse, defilement and early marriages are some of the circumstances that NACC said lead to early pregnancies.
NACC advises schools to inform the parent or guardian if they discover a learner is pregnant as soon as possible and put the pregnant learner in a guidance and counseling programme.
The Council says the school should also ensure the learner has access to age-appropriate health services such as antenatal care.
There should also be document communication with the concerned learner and parents explaining the school re-entry policy.
The school, the learner and parents should sign a committal letter for the pregnant learner to re-enter school six months after delivery, the period which provides ample time to nurse the baby.
NACC further recommends that learners should be allowed to remain in school as long as possible and be allowed to sit for national examinations if her health condition permits.
In Kenya, early pregnancy refers to pregnancy that occurs in the life of a girl below the country’s age of consent, which is 18 years.
Early pregnancies have been shown to be the main reason for many drop-out cases among adolescent girls. The pregnancies also expose young girls to health-related challenges, including mortality and morbidity due to birth-related complications and unsafe abortion.
Adolescents Pregnancy Data 2021 Table 2
