By Okongo Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: The rate at which adolescents between the ages of 10 – 14 old in Busia County is alarming, a report has revealed.
According to the report released by medics in the county, 747 girls between the ages of 10-14 were impregnated. This happened in the year 2017 and 2019.
This shocking data was collected from various health facilities in the county. It revealed how young children are engaging in sexual activities too early. One of the reasons why this is happening is because of a lack of parental guidance and easy access of online content.
The report also states that the lifestyle and the type of food that young people eat could be a contributing factor.
Dr. Mercy Onsando the national director of health NGOs Network (HENNET), an umbrella organization of health civil societies of Kenya said there is a need for all the stakeholders in the community to come in and find ways to reduce these cases.
Addressing the media, Dr. Onsando said the increase in contraceptives uptake among women and girls in the County is an indication that families in Busia do value the importance of seeking family Planning services. However, due to a lack of proper awareness on matters related to reproductive health, cases of unplanned pregnancies continue to be witnessed.
“Family planning in Busia has not picked that well. We associate this with a lack of proper awareness and for us to be able to achieve this, our people need to be sensitized enough to help reduce cases of over-dependence on contraceptives as a way of preventing early pregnancies in women.” She said.
Dr. Onsando blamed the parents for failing to engage their children on health reproductive matters early enough to avert pregnancies.
The report further says that 15,891 adolescent girls in the county are on family planning methods and Matayos Sub- County is leading with 4,752 cases in three years.
However Teso North and Teso South respectively recorded low numbers of women who neither are on contraceptives nor on family planning methods in three years which is attributed to lack of information.
The report further revealed that only 20,524 women within the period between the ages of 20-24 reported in health facilities to be on family planning.
Dr. David Mukabi Director Health Busia County said the uptake of family planning in Busia County is still below 35 percent which is way below the country level. He promised to involve different stakeholders in the county to create awareness on the importance of family planning.
According to Mukabi, it is unfortunate that the numbers of young girls as young as 10 years old, are sexually active, advising them to abstain and if not possible, to use family planning methods to prevent early pregnancies and early motherhood.
“Seeing these young girls involved in family planning and contraceptives methods means that they are already engaging in sexual activities,” he said.
However, he raised concerns as to why some areas in the county are recording fewer cases of family planning uptake adding that the failure for not going for family planning method increases cases of early pregnancies among minors.
Collins Owek, Director of Center for the Study of Adolescence says, it is unfortunate that they are forced to recommend the minor girls to go for family planning to prevent early pregnancies, but they are forced to so since the girls are sexually active.
He noted that lack of resource allocation in purchasing family planning facilities in public hospitals by the government hinders progress in family planning.
He urged both national and county governments to allocate more resources towards reproductive health programs to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
