From: Ouko joachim omolo
Voices of Justice for Peace
Regional News

REGIONAL NEWS TEAM
NAIROBI-KENYA
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Just as Synod bishops are discussing the approach to the new evangelization, in Kenya there is a shocking report that three in every 10 teenage girls are having children. Kenya is among countries with a large number of teenage mothers globally, according to the UN report.

Nearly three in every 10 girls are having babies and disrupting their schooling, the study by the UN’s special envoy for global education, Mr Gordon Brown revealed recently.

Among 25 countries selected for the survey based on mothers under 18 years, Kenya is ranked sixth.

In Philippines where teenage motherhood is also on the rise Episcopal Commission on Youth executive secretary Fr. Conegundo Garganta calls for a renewed sense of values among the young. Fr Garganta believes this can arrest the increasing incidence of teen pregnancies.

At 53 births per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 19, the teenage pregnancy rate in the Philippines is the highest among Asean’s six major economies, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s 2011 annual report.

Based on data compiled from birth certificates, of the 1.75 million live births in 2009, the latest review year, over 11 percent involved teenaged mothers. The UN Population Fund Agency also found out that teenage pregnancy cases in the country surged by 70 percent in only a decade.

Although according to health experts lack of services and information about adolescent reproductive health are to blame for fuelling the rise of teen pregnancies, in UK where government policies aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies have failed to have any impact, according to a new study.

The study looked at the teenage pregnancy figures between 1969 and 2009. It found that despite the millions of pounds spent in government initiatives over the last four decades, pregnancy rates among teenaged girls aged 13-16, have remained steady, while abortion rates have gone up.

Government policies have tended to focus on providing ever-easier access to contraception, including “emergency birth control,” after sexual encounters which had an even worse rate of success.

In Kenya, besides the pregnancies, the report also has evidence that despite huge efforts and resources spent in HIV awareness campaigns, many teenagers are still engaging in sex.

In Kenya, as in most African countries, 25-year-old men are far more likely to have HIV than 16-year-old adolescent boys. This means that sexual relationships with older partners are particularly dangerous for adolescent girls.

It is equally shocking that teenage pregnancy in Kenya amongst school going girls has become a worrying trend. Young girls drop out of school due to pregnancy and may not continue with their education.

While poverty could be attributed as one of the major causes of teenage pregnancies, most young people trust their peers and are easily influenced to engage in sexual encounters as a way of belong to a group.

While each year worldwide, an estimated 13 million births take place among young women between the ages of 15 to 19, in Kenya every year up to 13,000 girls leave school due to pregnancy.

According to available statistics half of girls in Kenya begin child bearing before age 20 years. About 250,000 girls between ages 15 to 19 procure abortions. Every year Kenyan families lose an estimated 806 million shillings due to school girl drop out.

Besides poverty, lack of a stable family structure may also push the girls to look for security else where and this is when they get lured in relationships which have devastating effects on their lives.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
People for Peace in Africa
Tel +254-7350-14559/+254-722-623-578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com

Peaceful world is the greatest heritage
That this generation can give to the generations
To come- All of us have a role.