By Doris Kathia
Nairobi, Kenya: The rise in teen pregnancies and HIV is a result of the narrative that abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) aims to empower adolescents and young people to learn values and interpersonal skills on matters of sexual and reproductive health to enable them to make informed and responsible choices like delaying sexual activity with accurate information.
Merely, when you renounce adolescents’ information, the results are often alarming, even fatal like what we are seeing today; the rise in teenage pregnancies and HIV rates.
There are misconceptions that CSE aim is to teach about sex. In fact, CSE inclines into abstinence covering the “what if”, because truth is told, adolescents and young people are no longer waiting for marriage to start engaging in sex. They are watching and trying things and dynamic drifts have changed the perspective of teenagers about sex and sexuality, yet we continue to bury our heads into the sand.
Adolescents are subjected to sex either by perpetrators or sometimes by choice and research shows that 47% of teenagers are sexually active before the age of 18.
For instance, some have already started childbearing or are pregnant with their first child.
Rather than seeing sex education as inherently anti-religious, conservative voices can be brought into the planning process and have a positive impact on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health.
Bishop Paul Njiru Kariuki remarks in 2016 that “CSE, is so dirty that if we go that way, we are going to destroy the moral fiber of our country” are ignorant words.
The religious leaders need to acknowledge and dismiss the fact that abstinence is not the only education and wholly embrace comprehensive sexuality education in schools, that provides accurate and age-appropriate information about their bodies and health. The use of a right-based approach to CSE is proven to be highly effective and will result in reduced rates of teenage pregnancies and HIV infection.
We live in a country led by conservative, ignorant leaders who portray their values and religious beliefs when making decisions rather than using evidence and science.
Kenya has a policy infrastructure, for instance, in 2009 the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and their partners developed the National School Health Policy. Consequently, Kenya signed an East and Southern Africa (ESA) ministerial commitment in 2013 aimed to scale up comprehensive rights-based sexuality education. The policy emphasizes the need to ensure that adolescents receive quality health education, including sexuality education. However, effective and full implementation of the initiative has stalled, slow and uneven.
Life Skills has aspects of sexuality education but it’s not examinable. Hence, teachers put more focus on examinable subjects, and also lack the training to teach sexuality education effectively.
The bitter reality is that abstinence, in itself alone, is no longer an effective way of delaying sex. The misogynistic attitudes of blaming teens are common and its results will continue to be disastrous unless we address the systemic drivers of teen pregnancies and HIV.
Despite the mounting evidence that young people are initiating sexual activity earlier, cultural and religious biases continue to resist efforts to address teenage pregnancies and HIV. It’s time we confront the hard truths and realities of the issue with honesty and openness.
A lot of money is spent on research. We cannot afford to disregard data and evidence in driving conversations on teenage pregnancies and HIV. It is now time to give comprehensive sexuality education a chance. Use data and facts, not personal values.
To effectively implement comprehensive sexuality education programs the government should prioritize teacher, parent, and religious leaders’ training.
We need to urgently address the root causes of teenage pregnancy, sensitize and create awareness of the School Re-entry Policy and engage adolescents as stakeholders to develop interventions tailored toward their needs and concerns.
Ms. Kathia is a sexual and reproductive health and rights youth advocate at the Network for Adolescents and Youths of Africa (NAYA) Kenya.
