Kenya: Lesuuda Calls for Increased Societal Collaboration to Minimize Teen Pregnancies

Tsp-medientechnik/Wikimedia Commons
Knives used for female genital mutilation (file photo).
22 November 2022
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Bruhan Makong

Nairobi — Samburu West legislator Naisula Lesuuda has called for enhanced societal collaboration to reduce prevalence of teen pregnancies in the Country.

Speaking to Capital FM News Tuesday, Lesuuda said that the society has neglected its responsibility to take care of the girl child calling for more involvement of the community and policy makers to arrest the situation.

The Samburu West MP described the current state of teen pregnancies in the country as "quite disturbing" hence the need for everyone to take the leading to manage the situation.

"This is something that all of us, the leaders, policymakers, the society also and the community around these children have to take a responsibility to make sure that we mentor these children in the right way," she said.

Her appeal comes after it emerged that at least 140 girls in Primary schools and 108 others in Secondary schools in Narok County alone, sitting for their national examination this year are pregnant.

"We have become very individualistic and capitalist and no one is really taking care of these children in terms of advice and mentorship," she added.

Lesuuda emphasized the need for parents and teachers to taking the lead in ensuring children's safety at home and school.

"Everybody has a role to play so that we don't blame and point fingers or one quarter not taking their responsibility so everybody has to make a role to ensure that we have this conversation," she said.

She further noted that society needs to amplify the conversation on reproductive health now more than ever.

"We have also debated about when is too early to have this conversation with our children and our girls but I think the whole issue of reproductive health and talking to our children at an early age, especially the adolescent girls is something that we have to really look at," Lesuuda said.

Samburu is one of the pastoralist counties with the highest rate of teenage pregnancies, which has been attributed in part to ancient cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.

The 2019 latest statistics from the Global Childhood says that Kenya has the third-highest teen pregnancy rates with 82 births per 1,000 births.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health reported 45,724 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 19 in January and February.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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